Retiring Serene Snowflake

The big news today is that the Retirement lists have only been up three days and certain items have already sold out including some of the ink pads, textured card stock, neutrals ink spots and most of the punches, Fox and Friends clear mount and the gorgeous Medallion stamp. If there's anything you want from the lists, I really would advise you to place your order as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. View the Retiring Stamp list here and the Retiring Acessories list here.

Now, on to something creative: I've had Christmas on my mind just lately (I know it sounds mad but I like to start shopping for stocking fillers when I'm on holiday and have plenty of time to browse) so I popped over to the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown yesterday where there's a fabulous sketch this week. Here's what I came up with:

For the focal image I've used two retiring stamp sets, Dot Dot Dot and Serene Snowflakes. To make the distressed snowy background, I used my white Watercolour Wonder crayon to colour the rubber on the dotty stamp, spritzed it lightly with water and stamped onto a Midnight Muse card base. (Midnight Muse is another of the gorgeous new in-colours available now - see yesterday's post for Primrose Petals!) When it was dry I stamped the snowflake over the top in versamark and  embossed it in silver. The image was framed with a piece of the gorgeous Brushed Silver card stock with an aperture cut out of it with my large square punch.

Here's a close up of the frame - it's been decorated with pierced holes using the retiring Mat Pack and Piercing Tool. I strung a piece of Indigo bakers twine behind the frame and embellished with another embossed star cut out with a circle punch and some lovely, twinkly rhinestones. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and has been stamped in Midnight Muse. I wondered whether it might not work on the silver card stock but, after a quick once-over with my heat tool, it was fine!


On the right you can see Mynnette's lovely sketch that was the inspiration for this card.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Serene Snowflakes (retiring), Dot Dot Dot (retiring), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Midnight Muse (available now)
Card stock: Midnight Muse (new in-colour available now), Brushed Silver
Other: White Watercolour Wonder crayon, versamark, silver embossing powder, heat tool, Mat Pack (retiring), Paper Piercer (retiring), Basic Rhinestones, Square punch

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. The new in-colours are now available in card stock, ink, ink re-fills and markers; prices remain the same.

Being on holiday seems like a hundred years ago but my regular readers may wonder how I got on with my search for the perfect ice cream sundae. Well, the answer is very badly - the closest I got to a sundae of any description was a shop in Whitstable called Sundae Sundae. I rushed in full of excitement and asked the man for the sundae menu only to be greeted by a baffled expression. "You do sell ice cream sundaes don't you?" I said. "No," he said in a mildly surprised voice. "It's just," I went on doggedly, "that your shop IS called Sundae Sundae!" The man's face cleared. "So it is!" he said. "I suppose it is a bit strange!"

I'll be back tomorrow with something furry - if it works! See you then,

Vintage Vogue coordinated gift set

If the weather where you are is the same kind of grey as we're having today, today's post is sure to cheer you up! I made this bright card for a lovely friend of mine to celebrate her birthday and decorated a matching gift box to wrap her gift. Inside the card I wrote 'this card reminds me of you: bright, positive and just a bit dotty... ' Luckily, she has a good sense of humour as well!

The Vintage Vogue stamp set I used to stamp the focal panel is perfect for those beautiful, distressed, vintage cards that are so popular at the moment but, as you can see, works just as well for a more contemporary card. Here's a close-up of the card:

And here's how to make it:

• Cut a Melon Mambo card blank and stamp it with the Dot Dot Dot background stamp and Whisper White craft ink (I used a stamp-a-majig to position the stamp.) Sponge the edges of the card blank with the ink.
• Cut a piece of Whisper White card stock 7cm x 11cm and stamp a design using the Vintage Vogue flowers and leaf. Decorate the centres of the Melon Mambo flowers with felt.
• Mount the panel onto a piece of Taken With Teal card stock 7.5cm x 11.5cm, then onto the dotty card blank.
• Finish with Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon tied into a bow and adhere to the card with Sticky Strip.

Supplies
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Dot Dot Dot
Ink: Melon Mambo, Taken With Teal, Old Olive, Whisper White craft ink
Card stock: Melon Mambo, Taken With Teal, Whisper White
Other: Sweet Pea felt pieces, Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon

Vintage Vogue is not on the Last Chance List so it will carry over into the new Idea Book and Catalogue launching on 1st October (see the top of my blog for information on how to get your copy). But that yummy polka dot ribbon will not be available after the end of September, or those fabulous felt embellishments and the Taken With Teal card stock and ink will be retiring too. Click here to take a look at the Last Chance List and if you see something you'd like, give me a call on 01280 820593 or click here to send me an email - I'll be happy to help!

Have a wonderful weekend!

More Tart and Tangy end-of-term thank you cards

Those background stamps from the mini catalogue are fabulous and have been well-used in my craft space.  Yesterday I showed you a card to show your appreciation to your children's teachers using Solid Stripes to make a gingham background. Today's cards use the A-Z background stamp which I thought would be appropriate too.

Can you see the coloured shadow behind the alphabet? It's made by cutting a piece of card stock the same size as the alphabet panel, adhering it to the card base, then popping the alphabet over the top with dimensionals.  Here's a closer look:

You can only see it when you turn your card a little - just the sort of subtle touch I love!

Supplies
Stamps: Tart and Tangy, A-Z, Trendy Trees (sentiment)
Ink: Night of Navy and Regal Rose for the first card, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive for the other two.
Card stock: Ballet Blue for the first card, Summer Sun for the second, Old Olive for the third and Whisper White for all.
Other: 1 3/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Rich Regals markers for the first card, Earth Elements markers for the other two.

After making these, I got carried away and whipped up these fruity little numbers with the Dot, Dot, Dot background stamp.

They have a bit of a retro look to them and remind me of pony tails, bright pink lipstick and pedal pushers. I used Ruby Red and Garden Green ink and card stock for the strawberry card and Green Galore, Real Red and Pink Passion for the cherry card.

Oh yum, all this fruit is making me peckish! Time for tea!
Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Masculine cards using Autumn Splendor

Some people don't like making masculine cards but I'm not one of them! I'm not really much of a frills and furbelows kind of a girl and so these are the kind of cards I like.

Here are some of my top tips for masculine cards:

* Keep it clean and simple
* Don't include bows or flowers!
* Keep any ribbon natural (eg twill or linen thread) or masculine in colour
* Try earthy, darker or nautical colours
* Vintage brads, hodge podge hardware, dry embossing, piercing are all good embellishments
* A simple sentiment in a frame is a good focal point
* Other useful focal images include trees and leaves, animals, birds and insects (realistic ones, not cutesy ones) vehicles etc

I've got three masculine cards to show you today, two using my all-time favourite stamp set - Autumn Splendor and the other using Baroque Motifs.

The first card uses one leaf stamped in Garden Green ink on Whisper White and tucked into a folded piece of Chocolate Chip card stock. The fold is given a bit of texture with Dot Dot Dot and the edge is pierced for interest. The card is finished with a sponged sentiment tag, corner rounded edges and clear button embellishments before being mounted on a Whisper White card base.

I love these clear buttons! They're backed with circles punched from Garden Green card stock then linen thread is fed through holes pierced to match the button and tied in simple knots.

Next is a simple, one layer  card. It's an A2 card base made from Kraft card stock and stamped with the same leaf as before in Garden Green ink. I love that green against the Kraft! I coloured the leaf stems in faded Chocolate Chip with a blender pen - it's quite subtle but gives a little detail.

The sentiment is from Trendy Trees and I positioned it with my Stamp-a-majig. How did I live without one? (The answer is that I often ruined cards with wonky sentiments!!!)

Here's the final card for today:

The gorgeous swirl from Baroque Motifs was stamped in Sage Shadow ink on Whisper White, then the bottom half covered with this stunning striped paper from the Sweet Pea designer stack. The squarish image from the set was stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink and cut out, then topped with a square clear button, this time backed with a Taken With Teal square and threaded with linen thread. The sentiment is from Happy Moments - and yes, I did position it with my stamp-a-majig!

Whew! That was quite a lot of male cards!
Hope you are inspired to get in touch with your masculine side.
See you soon!

Vintage Kraft birthday

This week I'm going to be busy making birthday cards. Today's card has a rustic, vintage feel (although the recipient is definitely not rustic or vintage!)

Don't you just love the flowers? The large one is made using the scallop circle punch - it's not my original idea and I've seen it around (you can see one tutorial here.) I used the same method to make the smaller flower with the sort of scallop-shaped flower from the Boho Blossoms punch. The leaves are punched using the new two-step bird punch from the mini catalogue and that polka dot background is from the mini too. I'm excited about the sentiment tag - it's one of the stamps from the Punches Three hostess set that you can punch out using the square scallop punch and trim down if you like. I think it's perfect for vintage style. I coloured the stamp with a marker, excluding the sentiment, and then added a different sentiment using the stamp-a-ma-jig for accurate placement.

Supplies: 

Stamps: Punches Three (tag), Vintage Labels (sentiment)

Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel

Card stock: Kraft, Real Red, Garden Green

Other: Two-step bird punch, square scallop punch, scallop circle punch, silver brads, gingham ribbon

Well if today's card was all about country and shabby chic, tomorrow's will be much more contemporary. Hope you can join me then!