Birthday stars and stripes for a man

Hello crafting friends!

I'm the sort of person that likes to wake up in the morning and think, happily, that nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen that day but I'm afraid Life has been happening a bit lately. And talking of lately, I missed my nephew's birthday because of it, so today's card was made to set that right. Come and see:

My first Uniko order arrived and I am absolutely delighted! Amongst the gorgeous stamp sets was the Background Builder Classics which I know I'm going to be using a lot. For its first inking I used some nice autumnal colours to stamp a design just off the edge of a good thick card base.

I stamped the belated birthday greeting from Altenew's Birthday Greetings below a nice solid banner to ground it and embellished with some Stampin' Up washi tape and some punched stars. There! A quick, simple, one layer, male card to pop in the post this afternoon.

This month's Uniko challenge is Anything Goes with optional autumnal twist, so I thought I'd link up there, proudly using my new stamps! I'm also joining in with The Male Room, where they want to see CAS cards, and Addicted to Stamps and More, where it's an Anything Goes week.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I had to be in London yesterday and texted my daughter on the off-chance that she might be free for lunch. She was! It was lovely to see her and, as a bonus, she works in a beautiful part of London where we were able to have a picnic lunch in a private garden in a pretty Georgian square. What a peaceful oasis in a busy day!

Thanks for joining me today. I'd like to think you have found this site an oasis in your busy day!

Hugs,

A bit of music and dancing with Timeless Talk by Stampin' Up

I've always been fascinated with everyday objects of a bygone age and love Stampin' Up's Timeless Talk set with its vintage phone, penny farthing and gramophone images, drawn in clean lines. When I saw Less is More's Face the Music and Dance challenge this week, that gramophone seemed just the thing! Come and see:

Now don't be thinking that I artistically swept in a few brush strokes to make a background - I simply used a couple of the paint splodge images from Work of Art! It gives a lot of movement to this simple, one layer card, as does that gorgeous sentiment from the same set.

Both the gramophone and sentiment were stamped in Night of Navy, making a nice contrast with the So Saffron backround, and I used my Stampin' Chalk marker to add a bit of detail.

While I was at it, I made another version with touches of gold this time, courtesy of my gold Stampin' Dazzle marker.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

Work Of Art Wood Stamp Set £26.95	Timeless Talk Wood-mount Stamp Set £20.95	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock £7.50	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	White Stampin Chalk Marker £3.25	Gold Stampin' Dazzle Marker ...	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig £10.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

It always amuses me to pretend to be decrepit when talking to my children about technology. They never quite know whether I'm joking when I tell them I'll give them a ring on the telephonic instrument or ask them to play something else on the gramophone!

See you tomorrow for more crafting fun,

Three Minutes with Happy Watercolour

If you look at Stampin' Up's Happy Watercolour set, you'll see the beautiful flowers, the fabulous background stamps and those sweet sentiments, but you may overlook one tiny stamp. Well, we can't have that can we?! Here's a quick, one layer card for my Three Minute Thursday slot using that little brush stroke image:

The brush stroke image was repeatedly stamped as a border across the card using three colours of ink quite close to each other in hue. This kind of stamping is ideal for a one layer card as the overlapping and stamping off of the ink gives quite a lot of dimension.

For a little extra interest, I pierced a double row of holes using the Essentials piercing template. The sentiment fit perfectly in the space between them and I used my stamp-a-majig to make sure it was where I wanted it.

The challenge at this month's One Layer Wednesday is Can You Repeat That? so I'll be linking this card up there.

I've made a video to show how quick and easy this card is:

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Happy Watercolour

Ink: Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo

Card stock: Naturals Ivory

Other: Essentials piercing templates, mat and piercing tool, 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND

Yesterday, my daughter offered to help me unpack a Stampin' Up delivery so I suggested she took items out of the box while I checked them off my list. She enjoyed looking at all the products and was particularly excited about the Tag Topper punches, especially when I explained what they were and what they could do. "They're brilliant aren't they?!" I said. "And they're going like hot cakes!" My daughter lost interest in the punches at this point. "Mmm - hot cakes!" she said.

See you tomorrow,

Get well soon with Morning Meadow

I am absolutely bowled over by some of the hostess sets* this year! Have you seen them? One of my favourites is Morning Meadow - and I guarantee you'll be seeing quite a lot of it here! For my Three Minute Thursday card today I made a one layer card for a friend of mine who is recovering after an operation. Come and see:

The heavyweight cards in the wonderful new note card and envelope set on page 162 of the annual catalogue are perfect for quick one layer cards. I stamped one with the two floral images from Morning Meadow...

... and added definition with an Early Espresso marker. I love how one image shows through the other, giving an interesting textured effect.

The sentiment is a real favourite of mine from Hopeful Thoughts. Using a marker to ink it up enabled me to use just part of the sentiment and a stamp-a-majig helped me to stamp it straight!

* Stampin' Up hostess stamp sets are exclusive designs at bargain prices that are usually only available to customers spending £150 or more or those that host a qualifying workshop but members of my Stampers 6 club get to choose them in their 'hostess' month if they want to. Check here for details.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Morning Meadow (hostess set), Hopeful Thoughts
Ink: Primrose Petals, Pistachio Pudding classic inks, Early Espresso marker
Card stock: Heavyweight note cards (with envelopes)
Other:  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.

Things have got pretty chaotic around here so please excuse me if I dash off without stopping to chat today.  I'll be back tomorrow though when I'll be turning the temperature down a little! Hope to see you then.