Christmas greenery with the Medallion

Thank you so much Chrissie and Mandi for giving us green for this week's colour theme at Less is More - yes I have got one or two Christmas cards left to make (and that is ever so slightly understating it!) Come and see my little green card:

I've used my lovely Medallion stamp for this card and the fab new in colour Lucky Limeade. The ribbon is Old Olive as I didn't have any Limeade, but I'm happy to put any greens together - if it's good enough for Mother Nature, it's good enough for me! It also serves as a useful colour comparison for anyone who thought Lucky Limeade was similar to Old Olive - it really is quite different. You can see how I've 'stamped off' to create variations in the shade of Lucky Limeade - I love making layered backgrounds using this technique.

The tag shape is from Welcome Christmas and is so useful for sentiments. I used the Merry Christmas from Season of Joy and stamped the swirl from the same set which never seems to leave my hands at the moment! I'm a big fan of the Medallion too. It's a huge image and as well as being great for stamping layered backgrounds as I did on my card today, it makes a great contemporary card on its own, is brilliant for stamping wrapping paper and gift bags like this one I made a while ago...

... and popped up gift tags like this one...

Altogether a very useful addition to the craftroom!

Supplies needed for today's card:

Stamps: Medallion, Season of Joy, Welcome Christmas

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Garden Green

Card stock: Naturals Ivory

Other: Garden Green marker, Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon, 1/8" handheld punch, corner rounder, 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 have a new Stampers 6 club group starting in January and there are a few places left on it, so if you'd like to have a lovely parcel of crafty gorgeousness to open each month, do contact me as soon as possible. I'm offering places as Christmas presents this year too, presented in my voucher box, which can be personalised. Now wouldn't that be a very special present to open on Christmas morning?! Start dropping those hints now ladies!

This was supposed to be a very short post as I've got heaps to do... so I'd better stop wittering on now or I'll find myself spending Christmas on the naughty step! 

Hope you're enjoying your weekend and I shall be sneaking back later to have a look at everbody's green creations! See you then,

Stampin' Up gift set for £50

Recently, my lovely friend asked me to devise a gift set for her mum who was just starting out with stamping. I was given a budget of around £50. I set myself the task of making sure that the items I chose would be really versatile. I wanted my friend's mum to be able to make cards for lots of different occasions and all sorts of people of different ages and genders.

I gave this project a lot of thought and eventually came up with this set:

I made the box base out of two 12" x 12" sheets of Crumb Cake card stock and the lid from two 12" x 12" sheets of the gorgeous, textured card stock in Old Olive. The box was topped with a piece of Very Vanilla card stock, stamped with the Medallion background stamp using Old Olive ink. I matted it onto Early Espresso card stock before attaching it to the lid of the box.

The gorgeous wide, striped grosgrain ribbon is just the right scale for a large box like this and can also be used to embellish cards when the gift has been opened. I made a gift tag by stamping the medallion twice and cutting out the centres with a 1 3/4" and a 1" punch, then layering them with dimensionals. A large adhesive rhinestone adds a touch of sparkle and the tag is tied to the ribbon using silver elastic cord.

Inside this box is:

1 Pack of assorted card stock - I suggested brights because it contains Old Olive, the essential green! 

1 Pack of Whisper White card stock, the perfect basic.

Trendy Trees stamp set - because it comes with two sentiments and is good for males, females and children and can cover all seasons and all occasions.

All a Flutter stamp - covers male and female cards and many occasions.

Early Espresso ink pad - for the trunks of the trees and for stamping the butterfly ready for colouring.

Old Olive ink pad - for the tree tops, and because it's the world's best colour ever! (I'm quite a fan of Old Olive - can you tell?!)

Two markers, in Marina Mist and Pretty in Pink, for colouring images, colouring stamps to get multi-coloured images and for picking out bits of sentiments and other stamps.

Don't you just want to dive in and start crafting?!!

The items in this set came to a total of £50.45 and do you know what is amazing? If you ordered them during the Sale-a-bration promotion, you would get an extra stamp set FREE! Now, that is extraordinary value! Click here for all the details. If you'd like to make an order, simply send me an email or phone me on 01280 820593.

It's been so dark and gloomy in Buckingham this past few days that I really feel like hibernating! Still, it makes us appreciate the spring when it finally arrives.

Thank you for spending your time with me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a birthday card using the magnificent Just Believe set. Do pop in and see!

A bunch of Bag-a-lopes!

It's Bag-a-lope week on Crafting Clare's Paper Moments this week! I've never stopped making these quick and easy gift bags, but a friend recently asked me to demonstrate them at her party so I've spent some time experimenting with new designs. Come and see!

I gave instructions on how to make the basic bag in this post. For the bag above, I scalloped the open edge with my scallop border punch once I'd chopped off the sticky part of the C5 envelope. I used Vintage Vogue for the design along with the tiny flower from Season of Joy - those tiny flower stamps are always so useful. The colours remind me of blackberrying - Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Night of Navy, Old Olive - yum!

This bag was made out of a C4 envelope scored at 2", which makes quite a tall, square shape - the beauty of these bags is that you can make them pretty much any shape and size you choose. I used the scrumptious new Wild Wasabi green and the Medallion background stamp to decorate this bag-a-lope and I thought it was pretty effective. The handles are made from matching strips of card stock fastened onto the bag with silver brads. I stamped an extra Medallion onto a piece of Whisper White card stock and cut it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch to make this coordinating tag. Stampin' Up's elastic cord is perfect for attaching tags to your gifts as well as being very decorative in its own right!

Here's a bag-a-lope which would work well for almost anyone. I stamped it all over with the Circle Circus stamps - and very therapeutic it was too! I used a variety of blues - Pacific Point, Marina Mist, Baja Breeze, Night of Navy and Not quite Navy - and it reminds me of blue and white china.

I love using Autumn Splendor at any time of the year but doesn't it look gorgeous in its Autumn colours?! Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip were used for this bag and the handle made by punching an oval shape into the top. I made a quick tag using an off-cut of the stamped envelope, some Chocolate Chip card stock and the large and small tag punches. These punches are so incredibly useful - they are an investment you will never regret.

Here's another bag-a-lope inspired by all the beautiful Autumn colours we are seeing around us. The top of this bag is scalloped like the first one but this time I made a tag with a circle punch. I think this 5/8" grosgrain ribbon looks magnificent in Pumpkin Pie and teams beautifully with the Tangerine Tango, More Mustard, Bravo Burgundy and Old Olive of the floral design.

Well, I could go on for hours about bag-a-lopes but you've probably had enough now. I'll leave you to imagine the endless possibilities of what you might put in them!

That reminds me of when my youngest son attended a fantastic music class for pre-schoolers here in Buckingham called Crash, Bang, Wallop! There was always a moment in the proceedings when my friend who ran the class would ask the children "what's in the bag?" The children would all guess what was in the bag and there would be suspense and excitement until all was revealed and a special song was sung about the contents of the bag! My son adored this moment and his guess was always the same. When the question was asked he would always yell out "bees!" with great confidence. Of course, it never turned out to be bees - a strange thing to imagine being in the bag - until my son's last day at the group when my lovely friend arranged for it to be bees (not real ones thankfully!) and my son was amazed and delighted. Sigh. I've gone to what my daughter calls Mumland.

If you're still with me after all my ramblings, have a great Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow when I'll have come back from Mumland and will be absolutely focused on producing a card in three minutes flat!
Hope to see you then,

Vintage Mothers Day card using medallion stamp

Well, I finally got round to a mothers day card and managed to tie it in with the SSC141 sketch over at Stamping 411. Sorry I'm late everyone! Here's my card:

There is a hint of vintage about this card which pleased me. The flowers are the inside of the gorgeous medallion background stamp, printed on brocade blue cardstock, cut out and finished with a pearl.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up unless specified):
Stamps: Medallion backgrounds stamp, Occasional Greetings
Ink: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy
Cardstock: Whisper White, Brocade Blue
Other: Corner Rounder, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Pearls (from elsewhere - because I don't have my Pretties kit yet!)

We have always had a tradition of making cards for one another in our family and each mothers day and birthday I look forward to seeing the amazing creations my children have come up with. They are often innovative - I remember an intricate teapot-shaped card with a teabag inside with a heart tag on it and also a beautiful pocket card that contained a voucher for a special hug. They can be unintentionally funny too - my son once gave me a gorgeous birthday card inside which he'd written: "Even though you're getting old I know that inside you're just a big kid"! I treasure them all.

Thanks for looking!
See you soon