Retro Fresh Fabulous Florets

New stamps are food and drink to my mojo but I love my old friends too. Stampin' Up's Fabulous Florets stamp set might be on the Retired List but it's definitely in my 'favourites' category and I won't be saying goodbye to it in a hurry! Come and see what I did with it today:

I love the way this flower looks in vibrant Real Red! And the contrast with the Coastal Cabana designer paper from the retiring Retro Fresh pack makes me very happy too.

The leaves were stamped twice, fussy cut with my sharp paper snips and laid together to form foliage for the flower. Doesn't it make a great flourish?! I split the designer paper panel so that you can see the Baked Brown Sugar card stock underneath and edged the bottom half of the panel with a white  sentiment strip.

• Click here to see more Fabulous Florets inspiration! Edited to add: The wood mount version of this set has already sold out but cling is still available.

I was inspired today by the 'double whammy' challenge 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: Fabulous Florets (retiring) wood or cling,
Express Yourself (hostess retiring) wood or cling

Ink: Black stazon ink, Real Red marker, Coastal Cabana classic ink

Card stock: Whisper White, Baked Brown Sugar

Other: Retro Fresh designer paper, corner rounder, paper snips, linen thread, 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.

Some of the items in the annual catalogue are retiring to make way for new products. Don't miss out on your favourites! Some of these items have been discounted too - check them here.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know that I adore ice cream. I don't eat much of it these days but, every now and again I discover some posh handmade dairy ice cream and treat myself. You can imagine then how excited I was when I spotted this shop in Cambridge at the weekend:

Whoopeeeee! Icecream! Only to have my hopes dashed as I drew closer! Shoes? How could they?!

See you tomorrow,

Flower pot in bloom seed gift

Have you seen that the Blossom Party Originals die is on special offer as part of the Weekly Deals? It reminded me of a little gift I made for my Stampers 6 club ladies a while ago now. Come and see:

I made a plant pot sleeve using a retired card stock but Crumb Cake or even Cajun Craze would work just as well...

... and attached this fabulous sentiment from Fabulous Florets which I thought was very apt.

I added a riot of flowers and foliage using the Blossom Party die and some couple of punches...

... which I attached to a piece of card stock folded over a packet of seeds to make a tag.

A piece of ribbon threaded through the tag makes it easy to slide the tag out of the plant pot sleeve.

Look at my plant pots, like Mary Quite Contrary's pretty maids all in a row!

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

Stamps: Fabulous Florets wood or cling

Ink: Early Espresso

Card stock: Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Always Artichoke, Pink Pirouette, plus retired card stock
Punches: Boho Blossoms, 2 step bird, Itty Bitty punch pack

Other: Blossom Party originals die, Big Shot, 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Old Olive, Basic pearls, 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.

Yesterday, we were talking about a trip to a local museum when my husband suddenly remembered a story that had appeared in the news about a museum visitor who tripped over his shoe lace and fell down the stairs. Apparently, as he fell, he knocked a priceless pot off the window sill and it smashed into smithreens. My husband found this very funny but my youngest son took it more seriously. "This is why I always say velcro shoe fastenings are best," he said to me gravely.

See you tomorrow,

Rolled flowers with a hint of Mosaic embossing

At last I was able to play along with Less is More with their Handmade Flowers theme - that was definitely not one to rush! I can't say I'm particularly good at coming up with some astonishing new way of making a flower using only a butterfly punch and some glitter (!) but I do like a bit of a rolled flower so I thought I'd go with that. Come and see:

As well as rolled flowers, I used a couple of fun techniques on this card: I call the first one 'A hint of embossing'! You just put a bit of cardstock between an embossing folder and rub it with your fingers. You don't get a full impression of the embossing folder but just hints of it, and I rather like the effect. It also enables people who don't have a die cutting machine to get an embossed look. (Aaargh! I've just put my fingers in my ears to drown out the sound of you all saying that there isn't anyone who hasn't got a die cutting machine!)

My second technique is called 'Punch a stamped image with a circle punch and leave a bit of the image poking out of the top' (unless you can think of a snappier way of saying it!) Here's how I do it: I punch a circle out of a piece of vellum or acetate to use as a guide and draw lightly round it with a pencil. Using my sharp paper snips I cut round the overlapping bit and then position my punch with that bit pulled out of the cutting blade. The pencil markings can be rubbed out.

My rolled flowers were made with punched scalloped circles cut into spirals and rolled up from the outside. The beautiful coral paper is from the Epic Day designer range.

I was using the gorgeous sketch at The Paper Players today so I shall link up over there too.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Four You
Ink: Early Espresso, Pistachio Pudding, Soft Sky
Card stock: Whisper White
Punches: 2 1/2" circle, 1 3/4" scallop circle
Other:  Epic Day designer paper, paper snips, Modern Mosaic embossing folder, 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.

Everyone's winding down at school and my youngest son got to see a film yesterday. Upon enquiry, he told me it had been about Cleopatra having her palace built. When she told the builders she wanted it to be completed in three months, he said, her builders laughed and said maybe they might finish the planning in that time - to which Cleopatra said that if it wasn't done she would feed them to her crocodiles. It seems that having a bit of building work done was a lot simpler in those days...!

I'll have a quick card for you tomorrow when it will be Three Minute Thursday here on my blog. Hope to see you then,

When two stamp sets collide - AND BARGAINS!!!

• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here but in the meantime, you can nab yourself a BARGAIN!!! Click here to find STAMPS and ACCESSORIES at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

That news is exciting enough but I can't leave you without a bit of crafting...! Don't you just love it when two stamps from different stamp sets look as if they were made for each other? Today's card happened because I had a light bulb moment when Fabulous Florets and Secret Garden were out on my desk. Come and have a look:

I noticed that the solid flower from Fabulous Florets looked rather like one of the outline flowers from Secret Garden so I thought I'd try combining them. I love the effect of the solid and outlined images together.

Here's a close up where you can see that I've used solid and outline foliage from both sets too. The background has been roughly sponged in using Island Indigo ink and I coloured just one of the outlined flowers and added a zing of Summer Starfruit to the centres of both.

The sentiment is a wonderful one from Hopeful Thoughts which I use often and for many different reasons.

Here's what you'll need for this project
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Secret Garden, Hopeful Thoughts
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Stazon black
Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Other: Summer Starfruit marker, aqua painter, 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.

For those of you that couldn't believe how unhandy I was with my husband's mobile phone yesterday, it isn't an isolated event, believe me! Not long ago I was meeting my daughter in town and messaged her using my own phone to let her know I'd been slightly delayed. "Just have to pop into one more shop," I texted and then attempted to add: "See you in a mo." The phone, which obviously sensed weakness and knew who was boss, refused to allow me to say 'mo' and kept changing it to 'month'. The thought of my daughter receiving a message telling her that I'd been delayed by a month had me whooping with laughter in the shopping centre.

Have a lovely weekend!

Fabulous Florets colour explosion!

I was delighted with to see the colour challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More as it was just the combination required for the birthday of one of my friends - she has a wonderful sense of colour and isn't at all afraid of intense hues like these! I was also inspired by the fabulous sketch over at Seize The Birthday (LOVE the revamp ladies!) Come and see what I've made:

There's plenty of dimension in this card with the popped up split panel revealing the gorgeous Pacific Point polka dots behind, and the zingy Melon Mambo flower, all layered up and finished with a pop of Pumpkin Pie button!

I love the way Stampin' Up supplies embellishments in its gorgeous colours although I could have done with some delicious Melon Mambo bakers twine here... Never mind! shaving the edge off some Melon Membo card stock with my trimmer did the trick and it threads through the button like a dream!

Hmmm. You may have noticed how obsessed with this sentiment I am! It really isn't too difficult to fussy cut (it can't be otherwise I wouldn't keep doing it!) and I love the sense of movement it gives to a design. Well, that's the card done - but wait, there's just one more detail to add...

...this card was crying out for a coordinating envelope! No problem - envelopes are a doddle with the diagonal plate that fits neatly into my Simply Scored tool!

These are the challenges I've been working from today:


Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, A Word For You
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Pacific Point paper from Patterns designer paper stack in Brights, Pumpkin Pie button from Brights designer buttons, corner rounder, 1 1/4" circle punch, paper snips, 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.
• 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

While we've been gearing up for a hot bank holiday Monday today, spare a thought for my daughter who has been working hard this weekend waitressing at a hotel. On Friday night she got in late and I asked her how it had gone. "Fine!" she replied. "Some old people were getting married!" I smiled. "How old were they?" I asked. "I suppose they were about my age!" (I turned 50 last year.) She shook her head. "Oh no, they were younger than you!" she said. The wicked child was just pulling my leg and it turned out that the happy couple were in their 70s. How lovely for them to find romance later on in life - may they have many happy years together!

See you tomorrow for something rather trendy (just to show there's a bit of a spark left in the old girl yet!)

Fabulous Florets for a fabulous gift idea!

I often get asked whether I do gift vouchers and I'm always happy to oblige, but I particularly enjoy making the vouchers for someone I know as I get to hear about their excitement as they open their gift! Today's project was made for a lovely lady in my Stampers 6 club who was fortunate enough to have not just one but TWO vouchers ordered for her by different people - and yes, she was thrilled to bits! Here's one of the voucher holders I designed for her:

It's a wallet-style holder made from Bashful Blue striped paper from Stampin' Up's Patterns designer stack. It's held closed by a belly band featuring scored edges and a punched circle embellished with fussy-cut flowers and leaves from the Fabulous Florets set. Slide the band off...

... and inside is a voucher decorated with the same motif. Now I don't know about you, but a Stampin' Up shopping spree is my idea of one top prezzie!

Here's what you'll need to make this voucher holder
Stamps: Fabulous Florets
Ink: Pacific Point, Gumball Green
Card stock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue
Punches: 2 1/2" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, corner rounder
Other: Patterns designer paper stack in Subtles, Simply Scored, paper snips
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

Life seems to be getting busier and busier! My lovely brother, who recently moved to the West Country has come to stay with us for a week and it's great to catch up with him. I had to abandon him yesterday though as I'd taken a table at the Tingewick Patchwork and Quilting exhibition. What an amazing show it was with beautifully designed and stitched quilts of every description, each and every one quite unique. Not being much of a needlewoman myself, I shared creativity of a different kind - here I am wielding the stamps and ink:

I'd love to take credit for that amazing quilt hanging behind me, but that was made by Rosemary, one of the talented Tingewick patchers! If you were one of the lovely ladies I met yesterday at the hall, welcome to my blog and I hope you drop in here often!

I'll be back tomorrow with a birthday card. See you then,

High fashion Fabulous Florets!

I know what you're thinking... those gorgeous flowers in Stampin' Up's Fabulous Florets set are charming but hardly the stuff of the catwalk...





... Well today they are because when I saw this week's Runway Inspired challenge, the black dot on the models t-shirt reminded me of the big flower in the set and today's card happened! Come and see:

I was really attracted to the blocky look of the outfit in the inspiration photo so I cut card stock and striped designer paper and arranged them as a background, rounding one corner to echo the model's shoulder.

The large flower from the Fabulous Florets set was stamped in black stazon ink and centred with a black brad before I attached it to the background. I needed a bold pink accent, so I cut a Melon Mambo tab using the free Sale-a-bration punch and tucked it under the Summer Starfruit layer.

The sentiment is from A Word For You - I liked the fine lines as a contrast to the bold shapes in the image. I really enjoyed making this card but it's not getting me sorted with Easter!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Fabulous Florets 
Ink: Black stazon, Melon Mambo marker
Card stock: Whisper White, Summer Starfruit, scrap of Melon Mambo
Other: Petite Curly Label punch (Sale-a-bration freebie), Neutrals Patterns designer paper stack, black brad, corner rounder, 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.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

Yesterday my oldest son accidentally dropped a large cube of melon on the floor while bringing it to the table and our cat Tuppence, aka Slayer of the Fiendish Fish Finger, pounced on it immediately. There followed a complete comedy where she tried to eat the slippery melon (I know - aren't cats supposed to be carnivorous?!) and only succeeded in pushing it around the kitchen floor with her tongue. Eventually she did manage to get a few bites out of it and, presumably finding it lacking in the meaty chunks department, abandoned it for the skivvy to clean up - hmmm, that'll be me then!

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you very soon,

The three Minute masked card

Do you like the title today? Sinster huh?! It had me doubled up shrieking with laughter! Sigh, I do apologise...

Now, let's move swiftly on to something gorgeous - like the ColourQ inspiration palette for this week. Cherry Cobbler, Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight do go beautifully with Crumb Cake (Stampin'Up's name for kraft.) I've put them together for my quick Three Minute Thursday card this week and this is what I made:

These stylised blooms from Fabulous Florets are a nod to those rolled flowers in the inspiration photo. Are you wondering how on earth I cut masks in three minutes? The answer of course is that I didn't! I'd cut two masks on a previous occasion and very sensibly stored them inside the stamp case...

... so it was really quick and easy to stamp the flowers and leaves. All it needed was a quick sentiment positioned with my stamp-a-majig - this one is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Other: 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.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

Yesterday I took my daughter for the theory section of her driving test. She'd got her papers together but was fretting as we left the house. "Will I need any money?" she asked. "No, it's all paid for, " I reassured her. "And anyway," she said, "I have £2 for an emergency in my pocket." I looked at her and asked: "Are you expecting an emergency in your pocket?!" My clever girl passed her test so it was hats in the air in our family yesterday evening!

I'll be back tomorrow - see you then,

Fabulous Floret-ish mothers day

Well I was going to be back with more fishiness and scoring ideas today but then I suddenly realised it's mothers day this Sunday... top marks to me for being ahead of the game? I think not! However, with Stampin' Up's Fabulous Florets and the gorgeous spring colour scheme at Dynamic Duos this week, it didn't take long to come up with something gorgeously floral for my stepmother. Come and have a look:

The Fabulous Florets stamp set is aptly named - the flowers and foliage really are fabulous. For this card I stamped the tall image slightly to the left of centre, then again on an angle to create lower lying foliage. The flowers were stamped then coloured using ink and an aquapainter. Very Vanilla card stock isn't really intended for watercolouring as it can buckle if you use too much water, but I find that works in my favour for flowers like this as the petals curl up realistically! I cut the flowers out and added centres with a marker when they were dry.

The elegant sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. I scored a strip of card stock along its long edges and ribbon tailed it with a square punch to make a banner, then used a stamp-a-majig to position my sentiment onto it.

I'm also going to link my card to the wonderful Make My Monday where the challenge is to get Inspired By Nature.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Early Espresso
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory
Other: Simply Scored, square punch, aquapainter, paper snips, 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.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

A friend of mine once told me that when he was a little boy, he decided to make his mother breakfast in bed on Mothers Day. He was quite young and didn't know how to cook eggs or anything so he put some frozen peas in a pan and cooked those. He made her a cup of tea too with water from the kettle although unfortunately he forgot to boil it first. He took the breakfast proudly into his mother's room and sat with her while she heroically ate her peas and drank her tepid tea with every appearance of delight. This story made me laugh but more importantly it taught me that a gift from the heart should never be despised.

Have a lovely day today,

Fabulous Florets with a splash

It was such fun to get up this morning and check out the challenge at Less is More - as I haven't been able to keep up with challenges over Christmas and new year. This week's challenge there is 'Black and White with a hint or splash of colour' which inspired me to make a sympathy card for my stash. Come and have a look:

I've used the beautiful Fabulous Florets stamp set, opting to make the leaves my splash of colour and keeping everything else black and white. I felt it needed a bit of extra detail so I added a pierced border.

The flowers were stamped on scrap card stock, cut out and mounted on dimensionals - I don't think I'll ever get fed up with doing this! The sympathy sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes which has to be one of my most-used sentiment sets of all time.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Certainly Celery, Black Stazon
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Essentials paper piercing pack, piercing 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.
• I still have a few places available for my Stampers 6 club in February and you'd be welcome to join in. With the Sale-a-bration promotion coming up and a new mini catalogue coming out soon, it's a great way to buy your wish list gradually and get lots of freebies too! Email me here to reserve your place.

I don't normally put music videos on my blog but I had to make an exception in this case: I like Nat Jay's song but the crafted video is absolutely adorable - do watch it and tell me what you think. Look out for the cute phone and the bit where he makes her the heart-shaped biscuits and brings them round - and the way the tree comes alive! Thank you to my lovely daughter for sharing it with me.

Have a happy weekend,