In Stitches faux embroidery

How do Chrissie and Mandi think up their brilliant challenges? Less is More always inspires me on a Saturday morning and today was no exception - they want to see cards with stitching or a sewing theme. I immediately thought of my In Stitches wheel, which I've unmounted and divided into separate stamps (see this post for how I did it.) Come and have a look:

The stitches always remind me of leaves and plants, so I've made a faux embroidery garden! I used a variety of green inks and coloured the larger leaves in with markers. The sentiment is from Curly Cute and I set it in a split frame embossed with my Simply Scored.

The zig zag stitch reminded me of grass, so I stamped a double row at the bottom and this grounds the plants nicely too.

The stems were given a variety of flowers: Twitterpated designer buttons, which I threaded with thin shreds of card stock before attaching with glue dots; four petalled flowers punched with one of the Itty Bitty punches and centred with tiny pearls; and a cut out embossed flower coloured with Watercolour Wonder crayons, a blender pen and a marker. It's great fun adding these pretty details!

Here's what I used to make today's card:

Stamps: In Stitches wheel, Curly Cute

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Garden Green, Baja Breeze

Card stock: Whisper White, scraps of Old Olive, Baja Breeze, Naturals Ivory

Other: Markers, Simply Scored, Watercolour Wonder crayons, blender pen, Twitterpated designer buttons, Itty Bitty punch pack, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, Basic Pearls, 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. Your free brad and ribbon set will be added automatically to any order of £45 or more.

Life is getting just a bit too hectic just lately so I've decided to take a brief blog break to try and catch up with everything. Forgive me for not posting or commenting but I will be checking my mail, so do keep those orders pouring in ladies LOL! Hopefully I'll be sorted out by next week and I'll have some exciting news for you then!

Before I leave you, I just wanted to show you the card my youngest son made for his wonderful teacher this year. I suggested a rosette and described how to make one, but he chose the colours (purple is her favourite colour, he told me) and made the whole thing by himself. Inside, he wrote a note telling her how much he'd enjoyed the year because of her "great sense of humour". He went on to mention her sense of humour three times in four sentences so she'll be in no doubt at all where his priorities lie! 

Enjoy the week ahead won't you,

Easy Events in greyish blue!

I had such an exciting day yesterday, unveiling some of the goodies in the new Stampin' Up catalogue, that for once I didn't get the chance to make a card for the fabulous Less is More challenge! This week the challenge is to make a card in the colour of your eyes and, since my eyes are an intoxicating shade of violet, I couldn't let it pass... Ha ha - only kidding! They're actually a nondescript greyish blue although if you look closely (which I did, much to the amusement of my daughter!) they do have sort of hazel flecks in them. Here's the card I made:

I'm using a new set which I have no hesitation in crowning The Most Useful Set In The Catalogue! There are eight varied images with sentiments that cover pretty much every occasion you could imagine. The best thing is that you can cut the sentiments away from the images and mount them on the side of the blocks or on spare blocks which gives you 16 versatile stamps for a ridiculous £1.87 per stamp!

I chose the pretty flower image, stamping it repeatedly in Basic Grey ink after masking the bottom of the card front. The flowers are coloured with a blender pen and Bashful Blue ink, with More Mustard dotted in with a marker and a shadow added in grey watercolour pencil. I edged a strip of Bashful Blue card stock with the Scallop Edge border punch and used a stamp-a-majig to stamp it with one of the stitches on the In Stitches jumbo wheel (I've unmounted mine and split it into separate stamps - click here for details.) The card was finished with a few tiny pearls.

I love the handwriting style of the sentiments in this set and with eight to choose from you're spoilt for choice!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Easy Events, In Stitches jumbo wheel

Ink: Basic Grey, Bashful Blue

Card stock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue

Other: More Mustard marker, blender pen, Scallop Edge border punch, Basic Pearls, stamp-a-majig

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. SPECIAL OFFERS: If you order today your name will go into a draw to win a Flower Accent stamp. If your order is over £25, you will also receive a free Christmas House tutorial. 

We are having a late heatwave here in Buckingham and it's just wonderful! The only downside is that it really does feel as if we're on holiday so nothing's actually getting done!

Thank you for coming over to see my card today. I'm looking forward to seeing what all the other LiMettes have been up to - and finding out what colour eyes everyone has!

See you soon!

Growing Green roses!

Oh dear! I just can't leave the Growing Green set alone! Today I made another birthday card using the rose image. Come and have a look:

Now this may look a bit like this design that I showed you last week but it uses a different technique. I stamped the rose image onto Confetti White card stock, using Rich Razzleberry ink, and washed the colour into the petals using an aqua painter. When this had completely dried, I added the leaves and then sponged over the whole card with Bashful Blue ink.

Here's a close-up to show you the purplish tinge you get when the blue ink brushes over the Razzleberry - quite subtle but I rather like it.

I stamped a stitched frame in Cherry Cobbler ink using one of the stamps I made from the In Stitches wheel (see here for how I did it!) and then sponged the edges of the card front with a touch of Rose Red ink. The sentiment is from one of this year's Sale-a-bration sets, retired now.

Supplies needed for this project:

Stamps: Growing Green, Vintage Vogue, So Happy For You (retired), 

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Bashful Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Rose Red, Basic Black

Card stock: Confetti White

Other: In Stitches wheel

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your door. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

I might just have finished making things with Growing Green for the time being because my friendly UPS man has just delivered a box which contains a certain French Foliage set that I've had my eye on for ages! Or perhaps I can combine both... now there's a thought! Thank you for looking at my card today and if you'd like to pop back tomorrow, I'm sure I'll have something a bit leafy going on!

Clean and simple cards for a baby boy

I've had some exciting news! My cousin and his wife are now the proud parents of a gorgeous baby boy! And what a cutie! I'm not able to be on cuddling duty at the moment as they live in Scotland, but I'm sure I'll get a turn when we have our family get-together in the summer! While I'm waiting I thought I'd get straight onto designing a card to welcome the new arrival.

It is so much fun making baby cards! I've come up with three monochome designs - yes I am a true LiMette and the Less is More challenge is never far from my mind! The first card might not have enough white space for their royal LiMnesses...

...or for me now I come to think of it! But I like the stamped gingham mounted onto the embossed card base, which reminds me of one of those lovely soft baby blankets.

The gingham is easy to make with the Solid Stripes background stamp and a stamp-a-majig. I used Bashful Blue and Marina Mist markers on alternate stripes, then turned it round and stamped it again. The embossing folder is exclusive to Stampin' Up and is called Square Lattice.

The next card is my favourite of the batch. I love the dotty label from Baby Blossoms - and how cute is that little babygrow from the hostess set A Slice of Life?! I coloured it with markers and popped it up on the label using dimensionals. The sentiment is from Afterthoughts, another hostess set. Don't forget these sets are free with a £150 order and you get other freebies too! It's certainly worth clubbing together with friends or joining my Stampers 6 club.

The sentiment is a retired sale-a-bration stamp which curves neatly into the frame, and the card base has been half-embossed with the Polka Dots embossing folder.

The Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon grounds the label nicely and ties in with the colour of the sentiment and the accents on the babygrow.

For my final design I masked off a strip and sponged it with bashful Blue ink then stamped it with tiny Marina Mist stars - I used the smallest star from Seeing Stars. I wanted it to look sewn to the card stock so I stamped it with the zigzag stitch stamp I made from the In Stitches wheel (see how I did it here.)

The card topper is made with the giraffe from Fox and Friends. I've drawn a welcoming smile on his little face and given him a dark eye with markers and, because the birth of a baby is quite an occasion, I've given him a posh scarf to wear made from a scrap of Baja Breeze seam binding!

Now, I would normally give details on how to make my cards but I'm aware that you've all got lives to get on with and there are only so many hours in the day! But if you'd like more details, I'm always happy to help and of course I can supply you with everything you need to make the cards. Just send me an email or give me a ring on 01280 820593.

When I was making these cards, my thoughts turned to my own lovely babies. They are quite considerably bigger than they used to be but they're not above giving me a hug sometimes and are very good company indeed!

Thanks for dropping in on my baby card-fest today - I very much appreciate your visits and comments. Yesterday I was overwhelmed by all the birthday wishes you sent me - thank you so much my lovely blogging pals! Tomorrow I'll be back here with Three Minute Thursday, my weekly series of speedy card ideas, and you are more than welcome to join me!

Dotty birthday with a Circle Circus flower

Have you noticed that birthdays have a habit of creeping up behind you and catching you unawares? I am feeling very virtuous today though - my niece's birthday is coming up this month and I made her card in advance!

Have you noticed the sewing? (I am jumping up and down here!) Yes, it's another stitch stamp I got by modifying my In Stitches wheel (see Wednesday's post). The fabulous dotty designer paper comes from the Subtles Patterns stack. It comes in four tone-on-tone designs in all four of the Stampin' Up colour families and is SO useful!

This flower was such fun to make using the leaves from the Sweetheart set and one of the Circle Circus stamps. I stamped the flower head three times and used my scallop circle punch and a couple of circle punches to cut them out and layer them. One of the gorgeous self-adhesive rhinestones gives it a bit of glitz!

I've built up a nice collection of sentiment stamps now and it means I can put them together in different ways to fit a space. I used 'Birthday' from Sincere Salutations while 'happy' is from a retired sale-a-bration set. (Have you SEEN that stitching!!!)

While I was busy on this card, I suddenly remembered I haven't yet made my card for the St Lukes Hospice Charity Challenge! This month we've been asked to make a card using pattern and I thought this one would be perfect - so I set to work making another one!

I made a darker flower for this one and used a darker dotty paper. This photo shows the layered flower much more clearly. These flowers remind me a bit of Sweet Williams!

And here they are! Finished and ready to post - one to my niece, and the other to Sheffield where it will be sold to raise funds for the St Lukes Hospice there. This is such a worthwhile cause - please do go and check out the challenge site and join in.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a 18cm x 9cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold it in half to create a card base.
• Cut a 7cm square of dotty paper from the Patterns stack (I used Regal Rose and Pink Pirouette on my cards). Glue it to the card front.
• Use Rose Red ink and a stamp-a-majig to stamp the zig-zag stitch round the edges of the paper. Alternatively, sew round the paper with dark pink thread.
• Stamp the leaves in Old Olive ink and cut around the shape with sharp paper snips. Tie a length of silver elastic thread round the stem and finish with a bow.
• Stamp the scalloped image from Circle Circus with Rose Red ink three times. I made one flower from Regal Rose card stock and the other from Melon Mambo. Cut one out with the scallop circle punch, another with the 1 1/4" circle punch and the last with the 3/4" circle punch. Sponge the edges of the card stock with Rose Red ink.
• Make a flower head by layering the punched shapes with dimensionals. Decorate the centre of the flower with a self-adhesive rhinestone.
• Use your stamp-a-majig to stamp a sentiment then assemble the flower and glue to the card front.

Supplies (for the first card)
Stamps: Circle Circus, Sweetheart, In Stitches wheel, Sincere Salutations, Happy Moments (retired)
Ink: Rose Red, Old Olive, Basic Black marker
Card stock: Whisper White, Regal Rose
Other: Patterns Stack in subtles, silver elastic thread, basic rhinestone

Last night, my daughter perched on the arm of the sofa where I'd laid my book. My hand shot out to prevent it from falling. "Mind my book!" I said. She gave it a withering glance. "That's not a book," she told me. "That's just some pages near to each other!" Here is a picture of my book. Hmmm. I suppose she does have a point...

Have a wonderful weekend and do come back very soon!

Three Minute Thursday - Using In Stitches

Good morning! Welcome to Three Minute Thursday, the one-stop shop for not only fast card ideas but also the supplies to make them! Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593 and I'll do the rest for you. You could be inking up your new stamps within a week!

Now, did you see yesterday's post? It was all about modifying the In Stitches wheel to make individual stamps. Well, I've been playing with my new stamps and I've come up with some super-fast cards using them so let's have a look:

First up is a card with a very 70s retro feel.

This is all about colour - each 'stitch' was stamped in mustards, oranges and rusts in a pretty haphazard fashion. I finished with a sentiment from Trendy Trees, stamped in Cajun Craze using my stamp-a-majig.

Next I focused on this 'satin stitch' using a favourite colour combination of mine: Elegant Eggplant, Night of Navy and Rich Razzleberry.

I used my stamp-a-majig to align three rows of stitches exactly above each other.

The sentiment was made by colouring the H and the I from the Thinking of You sentiment in Hopeful Thoughts with an Elegant Eggplant marker. I love finding new words in my sentiments! (Not that 'hi' is a new word but you get what I mean!)

Finally, here's my favourite card of the batch:

Very simple again - I just stamped the 'running stitch' in Garden Green, Not Quite Navy and Pacific Point all the way up the card. Each time, I stamped several times without re-inking to get a nice range of colour. I love these colours together!

The sentiment is from the hostess set Afterthoughts and, I think, makes a real impact in Basic Black against the stitch pattern. Hostess sets, for those that don't know, are free to those that host a qualifying workshop or to those that place an order for £150 or more. Email me to find out more or to book a fun evening!

Talking of fun evenings: yesterday, with trembling fingers, my oldest son handed me all his hard-earned savings so that I could order him an Xbox online. He'd bookmarked one but remarked wistfully that the model with bells and whistles on was only £10 more. It was then that something truly astonishing happened. My 15-year-old daughter, who was in the room, said casually: "I'll lend you ten quid if you like." There was a silence while this sank in and then my son ran over to my daughter and HUGGED HER!!! And then he TOLD HER THAT HE LOVED HER!!! Now, my children get on pretty well on the whole but I can safely say that never before has there been such a demonstration of affection between these two!

Thank you for visiting my blog - I love it that you spend a bit of your time here with me. I'll be back tomorrow with a birthday card I'm making for my 12-year-old niece and I'll hope to see you then!

Six stamps for the price of one!

Did you read the title of today's post? Are you amazed but slightly suspicious? Well don't be! Suspicious I mean - of course it's fine to be amazed! This is all about the In Stitches jumbo wheel on page 9 of the mini catalogue. It's a gorgeous wheel and I loved it the minute I saw it but... I knew that I would want to use each stitch separately. Well, why not? I knew that it was easy enough to unmount the wheels from talking to other crafters. Well anyway, come and see what I did:

Before we start, this isn't the In Stitches wheel (it's the whimsy wheel) but I just wanted to show what a jumbo wheel looks like!

The wheel clicks in and out of the handle and when you take it out, you can find the seam quite easily.

And if you slip the point of a sharp craft knife under the rubber at the seam, you can gently ease the rubber off the wheel. Now, if you try this at home, I can't emphasise enough that you have to be very careful and very gentle! You don't want to stretch or tear the rubber.

Once the rubber's off the wheel, you can mount it onto foam mount and cut each stitch apart with craft and rubber scissors.

They will then cling beautifully to an acrylic block. I used Stampin' Up's block measuring 14.9cm long which wasn't quite long enough, so I just trimmed the ends off the stitches. If I want them to be longer than they are, I can just line them up with my stamp-a-majig.

So - the jumbo wheel costs £8.50 and I now have six stamps for the price of one! How about that for a bargain?!

Now, I can't go away without showing you something I made with one of my new stamps! Here's a whimsical little note card:

Look how cute these fabulous leaf stitches look with one of the little flowers from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack! By angling the stems in, it looks as if you're lying in the garden, looking up at the sky (one of my favourite positions!) I've used Confetti card stock again - I love this stuff! - and the little flecks remind me of little flying creatures buzzing about among the flowers!

And just look at those flowers! I love this little punch and can see that it's going to get a lot of use in my craft room! (Actually it's more of a craft desk but there it is...!) I couldn't resist adding this butterfly cut with the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die - yes, I'm still obsessed with butterflies!

This gorgeous sentiment is from the Hopeful Thoughts stamp set - a real favourite of mine.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a 14.5cm x 19.5cm piece of Confetti White card stock. Score and fold it in half to make a card base.
• Press the acrylic block down onto the leaf stitch stamp and ink it up with an Always Artichoke ink. TIP: When a stamp is bigger than the ink pad, turn it upside down and take the ink pad to it. Stamp a stem onto the card front.
• Stamp off to clean your stamp and ink it up again, this time with Certainly Celery ink. Stamp a much shorter stem to the right of the first.
• Stamp a mid height stem in Old Olive ink to the left of the first.
• Colour the leaves using a blender pen and the three green inks.
• Punch three flowers from Daffodil Delight card stock, using the four petalled flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack. Glue these to the tops of the stems and add centres with a Basic Black marker.
• Add a sentiment in Basic Black, using a stamp-a-majig to make sure it's straight.
• Sponge Bashful Blue ink all over the card, especially at the edges. Add a little Certainly Celery ink towards the bottom.
• Finish the card with an Embosslits butterfly in Tangerine Tango, attached with a glue dot.

Supplies
Stamps: In Stitches (unmounted), Hopeful Thoughts (sentiment)
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue
Card stock: Confetti White, scraps of Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight
Other: Basic Black marker, Beautiful Wings Embosslits die, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack

I'm so excited about my brand new stamp set and I can't wait to have a play with them all! What's the betting tomorrow's Three Minute Thursday will feature some stitching?!! Do come back tomorrow and find out!