Watercolour Winter poinsettia

I'm making loads of Christmas cards now, because I'd love to get them done ready for early posting this year, and I'm finding the CASE this Sketch challenge excellent inspiration! I almost missed the entry deadline again this week but I'm hoping to just squeak in with today's card! Come and have a look:

I'm a huge fan of the Watercolour Winter stamp set in the seasonal catalogue and thought the poinsettia would make a lovely focal point for the circular element in the sketch.

It's a two step set, with an outline and a filler stamp for each image - which is why it looks so arty! I stamped it several times and cut out sections to layer up on dimensionals, finishing the centre with dots of glue embossed in gold.

The background strip was masked off using post it notes and stamped in versamark using the En Français background stamp. I clear embossed this, sponging over it with green inks before removing the masks. A strip of Raspberry Ripple card stock balances out the flower...

... and this lovely sentiment from Beautiful Season, which I inked in versamark then straight into Raspberry Ripple ink before stamping and clear embossing.

This is the fabulous sketch I've been working with today.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Watercolour Winter, Beautiful Season, En Français
Ink: Certainly Celery, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Clear and gold embossing powders, versamark, heat tool, 1 3/8" circle punch, 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.

It's half term here at the moment and I'm enjoying having all my children wandering in and out. I spotted my youngest son tucking into an apple yesterday morning and asked him if he'd mind bringing me one, so he did - in the style of the wicked queen from Snow White. "Would you like one of these apples that certainly aren't poisoned in any way?" he said holding out the bowl. I selected one and he made me jump with a very convincing witchy cackle. Perhaps he's practising for halloween. I was rather hoping one bite would've sent me off into a really long sleep but no such luck I'm afraid!

Enjoy your Tuesday! I'll be back tomorrow with a tutorial for my wrap around box so do join me for that.

Hugs,

Papaya Collage emboss/resist

So far I've been pretty restrained with my Papaya Collage stamp set because that's the kind of girl I am (although there are those that would tell you different!) But today I've gone all out in a frenzy of feminine gorgeousness! Come and have a look:

I chose a colour palette of Crumb Cake, Gumball Green and Primrose Petals and went for a dreamy, vintage feel. A lacy white mat, flowing script, a shimmery butterfly, a seam binding bow, pearls - what didn't I use?!

The swirly En Français background stamp is perfect for the emboss/resist technique and teams well with  the ornate frame in Papaya Collage. I can tell that fern is going to be very well-used in the Craft Square Metre too and I love it in the new Gumball Green! The Scallop Trim border punch was used to create the layered edging.

The sentiment is from the wonderful Curly Cute set and I've used the soft Crumb Cake seam binding to underline it. Finishing touches include pearls, the stunning butterfly from Papaya Collage, and a mist of Primrose Petals using the colour spritzer tool.

Here's a close up of that pretty butterfly, shimmering with a touch of dazzling diamonds glitter.

Well, it was great fun romping about with this card but you know, I really am a CAS girl at heart!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Papaya Collage, En Français, Curly Cute
Ink: Primrose Petals, Crumb Cake, Gunball Green, River Rock, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Other: Basic Pearls, Crumb Cake seam binding, Scallop Trim border punch, versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, markers, Colour Spritzer 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.

When my daughter was very small, she liked to 'do' my hair. I was a very good mummy and kept very still while she tugged and brushed and combed and twisted my hair into a comedy hairstyle, but it took ALL my self control to sit and let her add slides and ribbons and scrunchies and the kitchen sink and the cat (well okay, perhaps not the last two things but you get my point!)

Thank you for visiting me today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you very soon.
Hugs,

A Perfectly Preserved marriage!

It's all about weddings at the fabulous Less is More challenge today - and we all love a wedding don't we?! I hope you won't groan when you see my card today... there might just be a jar on it!

I promise I DO have other stamps it's just that I haven't got over my Perfectly Preserved stamp set yet! Moving swiftly on - I started by getting some texture going on the background with a mixture of dry and heat embossing before adding a jar of hearts.

I love this jar to bits as you may have noticed! I stamped it on acetate with white stazon before cutting it out (there are coordinating framelit dies to make this easy.) The hearts are cut out of scraps of watercolour paper using my Owl punch (yes really!), and the jar is secured with glue dots behind the label and a little glue behind the outline of the jar.

It's hard to see in the photo but this sentiment and the little label on the jar are embossed in gold,  and I added a few pearls for that luxurious feel.

I was so pleased to see that my card for last week made it to the showcase - thank you for choosing it Chrissie and Mandi!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, En Français, For My Family and Tiny Tags (sentiments)
Ink: White stazon 
Card stock: Very Vanilla, scraps of watercolour paper
Punches: Owl builder punch, Jewellery Tag punch
Other: Versamark, gold and clear embossing powders, heat tool, Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, white bakers twine, Basic Pearls, 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 the Retirement Lists - my last order from these will go in at 8pm tomorrow, please don't leave it too late! 

I meant to get my card posted much earlier but my daughter wanted me to go to a local car boot sale with her. It was a glorious day in Buckingham today and there were heaps of stalls to browse. We were looking at a stationery stall when our eyes landed on a herd of small plastic cows arranged amongst the envelopes and packing tape! "And suddenly," said my daughter. "There were cows!" She does make me laugh.

I shall be back on Monday and there'll be lots of excitement here because there'll be a brand new catalogue going live! Whoopee! There'll be heaps to show you so do come and join me for that.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

The masked card

Honestly! It's taken me all day to have any ideas at all for Less is More, where Chrissie and Mandi are challenging everyone to make a card using masking techniques. I've got one ready now though - come and see:

The card features all my favourite masking techniques but last week's script idea has obviously stayed with me too! I made my postage stamp by cutting a square aperture in a post it note and sponging a background inside. I stamped the lovely cherries from Fruit and Flowers over the top and added the number, using my stamp-a-majig for accuracy, before cutting it out with my Postage Stamp punch.

I really like the effect and am already dreaming of all sorts of other postage stamp designs! Do you like the postmark? The wavy lines are from my lovely Winter Post Christmas set as is the 'post card' stamp - not just for Christmas you see! - the circular bit of the postmark is from the fabulous French Foliage set.

This cluster of flowers and leaves was created using post it note masks too but this time I stamped the images onto the sticky notes and cut round them carefully with sharp paper snips.  I stamped the first flower and masked it before stamping the second, then masked both flowers before stamping the leaf. I water coloured the flowers and added Old Olive stamens with a marker. I blended them in a little with the aqua painter which I'm not sure about really... the children are all saying it's fine but I suspect they want to use the computer!

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

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, French Foliage, Winter Post, En Français

Ink: Marina Mist, Old Olive, Soft Suede

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Confetti White, scrap of Whisper White

Other: Markers, Postage Stamp punch, paper snips, post it notes, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you (except the post it notes!) 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.

As part of the Sale-a-bration promotion, here until 31st March, you can choose a free stamp set or set of papers with EVERY £45 you spend. Click here to see all the fabulous Sale-a-bration freebies.

My youngest son had some of his friends round for a late birthday sleep-over last night. Why do they call it a sleep-over I wonder? Sleeping is the one thing that doesn't really happen at all! Actually they were all beautifully behaved and had a whale of a time but for some reason I'm feeling a little bleary!

I'll be back on Monday with a male card for Masculine Monday but in the meantime I'll look forward to seeing everyone's masked creations - if I can get back on the computer that is!

Outlined Occasions valentine

If you are a regular reader of my blog you'll know that the St Lukes Charity Challenge is something I wholeheartedly support. It was set up to help raise money for the St Lukes Hospice in Sheffield which cares for terminally ill patients and their families. The hospice is only partially funded by the government and has to find a further £4 million a year to remain open. Here's how the Challenge works: Each month a new theme is set and you're invited to make cards for a chance to win a prize; the cards along with any others you can spare, can be sent in and sold to raise funds for the hospice. Do join in - you'll be doing something worthwhile as well as having fun!

This month's theme is 'love and lace' and I'm also joining in with the Paper Players where Nance wants to see flowers on our cards, and Make My Monday where the theme for February is Romance and this week's challenge is 'love letters - script or verse'. Here's what I've come up with:

The script background was made by stamping some Whisper White card stock in versamark with the En Français background stamp and embossing it with clear embossing powder. It's hard to see in the photo but has a lovely shiny finish in real life. I sewed a border (not very well I'm afraid!) and distressed the edges of the card stock, then stuck the panel to my card base. It was ready to be embellished!

I do like the lacy effect you get from embossing thick vellum! This flower has been made by die cutting vellum card stock that was previously embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. I used the largest flower on the Fun Flowers Bigs L die. The centre is a vellum button made with the  Sweet Button embosslits folder layered over a punched circle and sewn with a piece of red embroidery floss. I tucked a Little Leaves die-cut under the petals to add a surprise touch of colour to the red and white colour scheme.

This ribbon-tailed strip was stamped with a sentiment from Outlined Occasions. There are six stamps in this lovely set and you can get them free as part of the current Sale-a-bration promotion - click here to find out how!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: En Français, Outlined Occasions (free Sale-a-bration set)

Ink: Real Red and Crumb cake markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Vellum, scrap of Real Red

Other: Versamark, clear embossing powder, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Fun flowers Bigz L die, Big Shot, 1" circle punch, Sweet Buttons embosslits die, Little Leaves die

I'd be delighted to order any of these supplies for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I am committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to help and advise. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

Click here to see all the free Sale-a-bration sets and don't forget to let me know which free Sale-a-bration set or sets you'd like - remember, you get one item for EVERY £45 spent!

When I picked my youngest son up from school yesterday I asked him how his day had been. "It was great!" he said enthusiastically. "Everyone made snowmen... except me. I made a snow chair!"

The snow has been melting away but causing some hazardous conditions as the wet roads and pavements freeze overnight. There was an accident on the way to school yesterday - not serious thank goodness - but do take care on the roads today wherever you are.

See you tomorrow,

Gift box - using Music Notes or En Français

Good morning! We are coming into a very busy time now and most of you will have had all the inspiration you need for making those handcrafted cards. So this week I'll be going box-mad to inspire you to package up those small gifts in a special way.

First, I just want to let you know that if you want to order Stampin' Up goodies to arrive in time for Christmas, today is the last day to do that. Please click here to email me and you can be sure that I will get your order sorted as quickly and efficiently as possible. Don't forget that for every £25 you spend with me you will be entered into my draw to win a fabulous gift: A beautiful Stampin' Up tote, One of a Kind stamp set, a pack of 12"x12" designer paper and 3 metres of show-stopping striped ribbon - one metre each of Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy and Old Olive (see the photo at the top of my blog).

Secondly, if you want a fabulous gift for a crafting friend or relative, my gift vouchers are sure to go down a storm and come in whatever price range you like. I can even personalise them for you! Please click here to email me.

So here's todays box - a beautiful richly coloured box that would be perfect to decorate Christmas place settings, could contain a small gift such as jewellery or a gift card, and is also the right size to contain four After Eight mints. The flower is made with the scallop circle punch (punch three scallop circles, snip between each scallop towards the centre, pierce through all the layers, secure with a brad and fluff up the petals.)

Here's how to make this box:

• Cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock 4 1/2" x 8" and score and cut according to the template at the bottom of this post.
• Decorate the card stock with the Music Notes wheel or the En Français background stamp using Cherry Cobbler ink.
• Assemble the box and stick with Sticky Strip.
• Round the corners of the front flap and punch a hole in each side with a 1/8" hole punch.
• Thread 1/8" taffeta ribbon through the holes and use to tie the box closed.
• Decorate with punched flowers.

Supplies
Stamps: En Français
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Card stock: Cherry Cobbler
Other: 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Early Espresso, flower punches and gold brads to decorate

Here are some more boxes. The one on the left was made with the En Français background stamp and decorated with a flower made with the gorgeous Fancy Flower punch - which will be available in the new year.

We have had some poorly tummies in our house but I keep thinking that it's best for it to happen now rather than in 12 days time! It also means that I've been on cuddling duties - always my favourite job! Hope you've all had a lovely weekend and are braced for the week ahead. I'll have more box and bag ideas this week so do pop back to visit if you have a minute.

See you soon,