Best of Flowers watercoloured hydrangea

Yesterday, when I was making that quick hydrangea card, I had in my mind the kind that can't make up their mind whether they want to be pink or blue - do you know the ones?! I didn't think my effort conveyed that though, so I tried again, this time using proper watercolour paper. Come and see how it turned out:

I gave the hydrangea exactly the same treatment as yesterday but the watercolour paper gives a more intense colour that I think is much more effective. I cut it out with my sharp paper snips, tied a piece of linen thread around it and mounted it onto a background stamped with French Foliage. Here's a close up:

Just look at the blend of colours on the flower head! French Foliage is one of my favourite EVER sets and I'm very sad to see it on the retirement list - well, I say it's on the list but the Cling Mount version has already sold out, not surprisingly.  If you'd like this set in Wood mount, please do contact me as soon as possible!
Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Delightful Dozen
Ink: Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake classic inks, stazon black
Card stock: Very Vanilla, watercolour paper
Other: Garden Green, Marina Mist and Rich Razzleberry markers, aqua painter, linen thread, 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.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and to make way for the new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links for lists of the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

I promised you a special cake today and here it is - an absolutely delicious birthday cake made for me by my lovely, thoughtful daughter:

It's a cake with a difference too:  Without meaning to bore you, I've had one or two health issues over the last 15 years and, this year, I have had some success in addressing them by making changes to what I eat. Wheat is a no-no for me and refined sugar doesn't feature in my diet either... so my daughter found this recipe that contains neither and adapted it. It was melt-in-the-mouth gorgeous, with light, moist, bitter chocolate cake, filled and topped with whipped cream and decorated with dark, sweet cherries. In case you fancy trying it yourself, here's how my daughter made it:

Ingredients:
10 Medjool dates
4 Gala apples or similar
3 eggs
60g coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
60g cocoa powder
60g coconut flour
110ml strong coffee
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
230ml double cream
Cherries
Method:
Peel, core and slice the apples, cook until soft and purée. Allow to cool. Meanwhile, stone the dates and whiz in a food processor. Add the apple purée and the other wet ingredients and whiz again to mix thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients and pulse until mixed. Turn into two buttered, lined 9" tins and bake for 30 mins at 170 degrees C. Turn out onto a wire rack and when completely cool sandwich together with a third of the whipped cream, top with rest and decorate with pitted cherries. Set up an armed guard at the kitchen door to prevent it being demolished by ravening hordes!

Enjoy the weekend. We'll be seeing some more sunshine in the UK according to the forecast - I could get used to this holiday weather! See you soon,

Sharing Stampin' Up

I love Stampin' Up products! That's not exactly ground-breaking news but it's why I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator. Since then, I've thoroughly enjoyed sharing my passion with others, some of whom have joined me. If you love these amazing products too, there's a you-shaped space in my group - and now is a great time to join because, until May 30th, you'll get to choose an extra £25 worth of products when you buy your starter kit. It costs just £99 and you'll get £155 worth of goodies - and the best bit is that you can choose exactly what you'd like so there's no need to worry that you'll be duplicating products you already own. Interested? Click here to find out more or if you'd like to have a no-obligation chat about joining, give me a call on 01280 820593.

One of my favourite things to do with my Stampin' Up products hasn't changed since I first discovered them - pulling out a variety of stamp sets and getting inky! Today's card is a good example of that - come and have a look:

This is the result of wondering what would happen if I paired some of the tropical blooms from Secret Garden with images from French Foliage. To make the background,  I sponged ink over some Whisper White card stock and added the script and some French Foliage leaves. The focal flowers were stamped over the top, coloured using an aquapainter and given detail with markers. To finish, I stamped the Secret Garden leaves and outlined flowers around the edge of the panel and sponged more ink over them to add depth. Oh boy, that was fun!

And the sentiment? Well, I've already gone into that!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Secret Garden, French Foliage, Life Shared
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals Ivory
Other: Markers, 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

My daughter is a fervent believer in sharing - especially when it comes to my clothes and jewellery. She's not so much of a fan of replacing the items she borrows, but perhaps that's because she feels that dressing isn't enough of a challenge for me and that I may be invigorated by the thrill of the hunt for a jumper! 

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow so do join me for a quick card!

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,

Happiness Shared with Watercolour Wonder crayons

I've been continuing my experiments with the Watercolour Wonder crayons and I'm loving them! One of the things I wondered about was how they'd look on darker colours of card stock than white or cream. Well I've used them to make a one layer card on Crumb Cake card stock - come and see the result:

Can you believe Happiness Shared is retiring at the end of this month? It's the most beautiful set and I for one am not ready to let it go! Anyway, I started by stamping the script background from French Foliage over a mask I'd made out of the Happiness Shared rose, then I used my stamp-a-majig to stamp the rose into the space left by the mask.

Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette crayons were used to colour the rose petals with So Saffron for the centre, while the leaves were coloured in Wild Wasabi and Certainly Celery. I used an aquapainter to blend the colours and highlighted with Pear Pizzazz and More Mustard markers when it was dry. I'm quite pleased with the translucent chalky effect.

This lovely sentiment is from my Tea Shoppe set.

I made a card very similar to this a little while ago and thought you might be interested to compare the difference in the colouring. Just click on the image for a closer look.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Happiness Shared (retiring), French Foliage, Tea Shoppe (not available)
Ink: Early Espresso, Basic Grey
Card stock: Crumb Cake
Other: Watercolour Wonder crayons in Subtles, markers, 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. 

My daughter attended her first day of sixth form looking like a supermodel yesterday while my youngest son broke my heart by setting off with a huge bag on his back looking no bigger than my thumb! He bounced back home though and told us he'd had a great day, so of course I needn't have worried at all. My eldest son got an extra day off, to his deep satisfaction, and spent the first half of it in his pit bed until I hauled him out by the ears. (Not really to anyone who's just about to call Childline!) When we were on holiday, he answered "lunch and a trip to Poundland [where he buys cereals]" when my husband asked him how he'd like to spend the afternoon. "Is that all you want in life?" said my outraged husband. "No!" said my son indignantly. "I need my xBox too and some sleep!"

Thanks for visiting me here, I love reading your comments and hearing what you think. Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you very soon.

Three bits of CAS sunshine!

Aargh! What a day! My husband is away today so I gleefully spread my crafting supplies around the house and got down to catching up with my favourite challenges. I was thrilled to see that the challenge at Less is More today is 'Three of Anything' which, I thought in my innocence, would fit in nicely with the new CASology challenge of 'Sun' and I could even use this week's gorgeous ColourQ palette... Here's the card I came up with (see if you can spot the problem):

Three sunflowers! I used my large square punch to make them into faux chipboard tiles by glueing together a stack of Chocolate Chip squares (am I making you hungry?) and topping with the flower image.

Before stamping the flowers, I coloured the rubber directly with Daffodil Delight and More Mustard markers. Once they were stamped, I blended the colours with the Daffodil one. The centres were stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on More Mustard card stock, cut out with my 1/2" circle punch and popped up with dimensionals. Using an image from French Foliage, I added Pear Pizzazz leaves after masking the flower and sponged round the edges of the tiles.

The tiles are mounted on textured card stock and then attached to a Naturals Ivory card base which had been scored to make a home for them. The sentiment is from the wonderful Pocket Silhouettes set and was added with my stamp-a-majig to make sure it was straight.

Of course you all know what's wrong don't you: while this card fits well with the Sun theme at CASology and the colours at ColourQ, it's one layer week at Less is More and I don't think Chrissie and Mandi will let me get away with this one! Grrr... of course I had to go off and make another card then!

This one uses the group of three tea cups from Tea Shoppe - very handy! I stamped them onto a Naturals Ivory card base and added definition with a blue watercolour pencil. Then I masked them and made a swirly tablecloth pattern with a couple of the Everything Eleanor stamps.

I was rather proud of my 'steam' - can you see it? To make it I squashed the lid of my Baja Breeze ink pad so that when I opened it there was a pool of ink in the lid, and used my aquapainter to paint a wavy line from each cup which fades as it goes up.

The cups needed 'grounding' so I scribbled shadows with a So Saffron marker and added a hint of blue. Finally, I stamped the sentiment, using my stamp-a-majig.

Well this is a mammoth post so I do beg your pardon if you've all gone to sleep and I won't list the supplies I've used as I would normally (just email me if you want more info). Instead, I'll leave you with a giggle: I was planning to take my youngest son to a party in Towcester earlier. "I wonder how long it'll take to get to Towcester?" I wondered aloud. "Oh, it's only a few seconds to get to the kitchen," said my daughter waggishly. Yes, this is the kind of smart talking I have to contend with!

Edited to add: Towcester, by the way, is pronounced 'toaster'.

Thanks for looking here today and putting up with my waffling. See you soon,

Simply Soft Christmas?!

Regular readers of my blog will know how much I love the ColourQ challenges - there's something about those colour swatches and inspiration pictures that fires me up! I must admit it took a while to figure something out for this week's though...

... but I wouldn't be beaten! Here's my interpretation:

I went for an emboss/resist background using the wonderful script image from the French Foliage stamp set. Once it was embossed I sponged Coral Calypso and Bravo Burgundy inks over it. The plants are from the wonderful Simply Soft hostess set. (Hostess sets are exclusive sets, available to buy with orders of £150 or more, but members of my Stampers 6 group can also order them during their hostess month - there's only one place left for my group starting in May, so do let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to join.)

Do you like the sentiment? I was rather pleased with it! I cut a half circle out of my main panel with a 1 1/4" circle punch then, using a 1" punch and a spare scrap of card stock, cut another circle to nest inside the space. This one was given the emboss/resist treatment. The 'thanks' sentiment has been cut out with my sharp paper snips and popped up with dimensionals.

Simply Soft is a two step stamping set - you can stamp the plant image and then add the colour to the flowers by lining up a second image and stamping over the top of the first. It gives a lovely soft look but I wanted a more defined look for this image so I just coloured the flowers in with a Pumpkin Pie marker. I liked the bubbles in the inspiration picture, so I added the surprise pop of Pool Party using the splodge image from French Foliage.

While I had everything out, it occurred to me that this design would work for a Christmas card too! Come and have a look:

I used markers for this one: Bravo Burgundy to colour the just plant stems before stamping and adding Pumpkin Pie berries. The Pool Party splodges have been swapped for Pool Party snowflakes some of which have been decorated with rhinestones for a bit of festive bling.

The sentiment has been done in the same way as before but this time I've chosen an easy-to-cut-out image from Contempo Christmas. This card is for the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown challenge, where the challenge is to use snowflakes on a card, and also Rudolph Day, the lovely Sandra's Christmas challenge.

I would normally add a supply list here so that you can see what you'd need to recreate these cards but this has been a long post and I don't want to completely bore you (apologies if I already have!) So if you have any queries about what I've used, do let me know won't you and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. And if you'd like to place an order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. TODAY'S THE LAST DAY  for adding a free pack of designer paper if your order is £45 or more (offer limited to one pack per qualifying order - click here for details).

I'm off to one of Stampin' Up's fabulous regional training sessions tomorrow to learn heaps of new things and meet up with lots of other lovely demonstrators. I'll be back on Monday with a sneak peek of something brand new and gorgeous so don't miss that!

Have a wonderful 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!

Happiness Shared with script

If you subscribe to my blog feed, you may not have received yesterday's post. I do apologise for the disruption - I've been carrying out some maintenance on my site and was alerted to the fact that some people weren't receiving the feed. All should be as normal again now.

The one layer card has come round again at Less is More and the particular challenge this week is to include script in your card - in addition to the sentiment. Funnily enough, I've had the idea for this card in my head for a while so it all came together very quickly. Come and have a look:

I made a mask by stamping the stunning dog rose stamp onto a post it note and cutting it out with my sharp paper snips. The mask was stuck to the card front and I stamped over it with my script image. When the mask was peeled away, I stamped another dog rose in the space left for it - using my stamp-a-majig for accurate positioning.

The flower was coloured with my aquapainter and inks and I love the delicate look it gives. Naturals Ivory takes the ink beautifully but you may need to pop the card under a pile of magazines for a little while if the card stock warps slightly with the water. When the ink was dry, I used a marker to add the yellow stamens that characterise these gorgeous wild roses.

I used a sentiment from Sincere Salutations and I love the way it fits into the shape of the rose.

Here's what you need to make today's card:
STAMPS: Happiness Shared, Sincere Salutations, French Foliage
INK: Basic Grey, Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Blushing Bride, Pretty in Pink
CARD STOCK: Naturals Ivory
OTHER: Daffodil Delight marker, aquapainter, 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.
Until the 31st March you can choose a free stamp set or pack of papers as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion - with EVERY £45 you spend. Click here to see all the Sale-a-bration freebies.

On the way back from school yesterday, I was singing an old song 'Wild in the Country' which contains the line 'snakes in the grass are absolutely free'. My son was amused by this and told me he was imagining it to be an advertising campaign: Get your free snake - absolutely free when you purchase any two products! I often think it must be amazing to live inside the head of my son.

I'm very late for Less is More this week but I hope to have a lovely browse and see what everyone's come up with. If you've not tried this challenge before, why not give it a go?

See you tomorrow,

Three Minute Thursday valentine post

Good morning! It's Thursday so I've got my three-minute hat on today and I must say, I'm rather pleased with today's speedy card! Valentines day has been on my mind and today's design came to me in a blinding flash while choosing a sentiment from my Petite Pairs stamp set for some other card: The 'sending a kiss' sentiment would be perfect with the heart design from Perfect Postage I thought! Come and see the result of this pairing:

Of course the postage stamp and the sentiment needed some other elements to link them together but I have a saying about that:

When in doubt
Get French Foliage out!

Honestly, it works every time - French Foliage seems to go with absolutely everything! If you haven't yet bought this amazing set, I really do urge you to do so - it's only £13.95 in clear mount or £17.95 in wood! My set has certainly earned its place in my Craft Square Metre with the amount of use I've had from it!

Here's a close-up of all the elements layered together. I stamped the French Foliage text first in Crumb Cake ink. Then the Perfect Postage heart was stamped in Real Red ink, cut out with my new Postage Stamp punch and layered over the top. Next, the sentiment was added, using my stamp-a-majig for perfect positioning. And finally, a few postmarks were stamped over the postage stamp and a tiny card stock heart added.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Perfect Postage, French Foliage, Petite Pairs

Ink: Real Red, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, scrap of Cherry Cobbler for the punched heart

Other: Heart to Heart and Postage Stamp punches, stamp-a-majig

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. 

I love Valentines day! Not that I'm expecting to be whisked off to Paris for the weekend or anything - hubby and I have been married long enough for such grand romantic gestures to be a thing of the past!  But we do like to give one another cards and I always give the children a little something too. After all there are different kinds of love and I'm never one to miss an opportunity to let my fabulous family know that I love them to bits!

I notice that I have some new followers and I'd like to say a big welcome and thank you for choosing to follow my blog. I post every day during the week (and sometimes at the weekend too (did I mention that I'm hopelessly addicted to crafting?!!) so I hope you'll come back and visit often.

See you soon,