Stippled Blossoms in a jar

Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms set arrived at my house last week and yesterday I finally had some time to see what it could do. The flowers in this set are truly stunning and, since the cue word at CASology this week is 'Bloom', what better set to use?! Come and see:

You may have thought I'd got over putting everything in the Perfectly Preserved jar but all it takes is a new stamp set and I'm off again! Stippled Blossoms is a two-step stamping set - you stamp a solid image and then a detailed line image over the top to create an image that really pops.

Once I'd stamped my flowers and leaves, I fussy cut them (yes, it was a sunny day again!) and arranged them 'in' my jar. I adore these blooms in Calypso Coral!

It was easy to doodle some stems, complete with thorns, using the thick and thin ends of a marker and I finished the card with a sentiment from the Perfectly Preserved set and a simple line to 'ground' the jar.

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Calypso Coral, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Garden Green, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Markers, corner rounder, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
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These beautiful flowers remind me of the roses at the David Austin garden at Albrighton. We went there a couple of years ago on my birthday and I was in heaven wandering around inhaling the scent of the roses... at least I was until I realised that all the children were doing impressions of me sniffing the roses, complete with vulgar pig noises!

What are the chances of 'crafting weather' this weekend? Quite high I think... Have fun, whatever you're up to, and I'll see you back here very soon.

Perfectly Preserved paper flowers

Good morning! Having been away for much of the weekend, I'm in catch-up mode so today I'm showing you a card I designed a little while ago to give to my lovely Stampers 6 club members. Come and have a look:

I used some of the paper daisies to pop into the acetate jar that you've seen me make before (click on Perfectly Preserved in my side bar index to see how carried away I've been with this beautiful jar!) I arranged the jar on a piece of 'wood' made with core'dinations card stock run through the Big Shot with the wonderful Woodgrain embossing folder and sanded back to reveal the lighter colour inside the card stock. The background was spritzed using a Summer Starfruit marker tucked into the Colour Spritzer Tool.

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to mention that I have only one place left for my Stampers 6 group starting in November. Would you like to join? I really do look after my lovely members: In return for a minimum spend of £25 per month over 6 months you'll get to choose what goes in your parcel each month, you'll get free full-colour, glossy catalogues packed with ideas, freebies of at least £25 at the end of the 6 months, handmade cards and gifts from me each month and as much coaching from me as you'd like. Book your place by emailing me here.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Stazon white
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Summer Starfruit, core'dinations Early Espresso
Other: Acetate, paper daisies, circle punches, Woodgrain embossing folder, Itty Bitty Banners and Cannery Set framelits, Big Shot, markers, Colour Spritzer tool
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

We had soup for lunch yesterday, which I served with crusty granary bread and little bowls of sliced salad vegetables, and I guess I'm not the only one in our family with a crafty streak...

Voila! My youngest son's radish and cucumber sculpture!

I'll be back tomorrow - perhaps with a Christmas card... after all, I'll be needing to actually send some of them in the post in 45 days!

A Perfectly Preserved marriage!

It's all about weddings at the fabulous Less is More challenge today - and we all love a wedding don't we?! I hope you won't groan when you see my card today... there might just be a jar on it!

I promise I DO have other stamps it's just that I haven't got over my Perfectly Preserved stamp set yet! Moving swiftly on - I started by getting some texture going on the background with a mixture of dry and heat embossing before adding a jar of hearts.

I love this jar to bits as you may have noticed! I stamped it on acetate with white stazon before cutting it out (there are coordinating framelit dies to make this easy.) The hearts are cut out of scraps of watercolour paper using my Owl punch (yes really!), and the jar is secured with glue dots behind the label and a little glue behind the outline of the jar.

It's hard to see in the photo but this sentiment and the little label on the jar are embossed in gold,  and I added a few pearls for that luxurious feel.

I was so pleased to see that my card for last week made it to the showcase - thank you for choosing it Chrissie and Mandi!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, En Français, For My Family and Tiny Tags (sentiments)
Ink: White stazon 
Card stock: Very Vanilla, scraps of watercolour paper
Punches: Owl builder punch, Jewellery Tag punch
Other: Versamark, gold and clear embossing powders, heat tool, Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, white bakers twine, Basic Pearls, 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 the Retirement Lists - my last order from these will go in at 8pm tomorrow, please don't leave it too late! 

I meant to get my card posted much earlier but my daughter wanted me to go to a local car boot sale with her. It was a glorious day in Buckingham today and there were heaps of stalls to browse. We were looking at a stationery stall when our eyes landed on a herd of small plastic cows arranged amongst the envelopes and packing tape! "And suddenly," said my daughter. "There were cows!" She does make me laugh.

I shall be back on Monday and there'll be lots of excitement here because there'll be a brand new catalogue going live! Whoopee! There'll be heaps to show you so do come and join me for that.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Perfectly Preserved birthday

On Friday evening I went out with some of my girlfriends to celebrate a birthday. We haven't seen each other since before the summer holidays so it was lovely to catch up. I made a card of course:

I am totally obsessed with the Perfectly Preserved stamp set - I just love putting things in the jar! This time I've used the flower and stem in the set to make a little bouquet. Stampin' Up have thoughtfully provided framelit dies to make cutting out shapes in this set easy (and if you buy the stamp set and dies together you get 15% off - bargain!)

Do you like the little tag? It's from Mixed Medley, one of the gorgeous hostess sets in the new autumn/winter seasonal catalogue which contains no fewer than ten useful tags. I tied a little bakers twine to this one and popped it up on a dimensional at the neck of the jar.

I liked the simplicity of the jar containing the flowers but wanted something but wanted something a bit more, so I sponged around the jar with Baja Breeze ink and, using a post it note as a mask, sponged a ground for it to 'rest' on. The jar is highlighted with my white Watercolour Wonder crayon - I can't tell you how useful this is! - and I added a green die cut butterfly.

I had bought a pretty jug for my lovely friend, which I wrapped in pink tissue that coordinated with the Rich Razzleberry theme. The present fitted nicely in this plain kraft bag I had in my stash which I decorated with the flower from Perfectly Preserved. I added a simple tag stamped with the sentiment from Curly Cute and tied a piece of Rich Razzleberry grosgrain ribbon to the handles to finish.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Mixed Medley
Ink: Gumball Green, Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Baja Breeze, Wisteria Wonder
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory, Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade
Other: 3/4" circle punch, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Lucky Limeade bakers twine, Watercolour Wonder crayons

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. 

The weather has turned very autumnal here now, with rain and high winds. The boots are well and truly out now, along with the jumpers and cardies, and I even fished out a pair of gloves yesterday. In the evening we crumbled and turned the heating on while watching Downton Abbey. We've had to ban my husband as he keeps making pantomime noises, hissing at Thomas and talking over the Dowager Countess - shocking behaviour I'm sure you'll agree!

I'll be back tomorrow - maybe with something a bit woolly looking! See you then,

Inspired by harvest festival

Yesterday I had a bit of a creative moment! I was fiddling about with my Perfectly Preserved stamp set and came up with a pot of jam and then, not content with that, I made an apple using a punch and some sponge daubers! Seeing the two together made me think of harvest festival and all the times my children trotted off to school carefully carrying their decorated produce. When I'd finished being in Mumland I found that I'd made this:

All sorts of harvest goodies in a wooden crate made using my new Woodgrain embossing folder on Core'dinations card stock and sanding the surface - LOVE this textured look! The jam was made by stamping parts of a strawberry from my Fruit and Flowers set onto card stock and then sponging colour over the top. I stamped my beloved jar from Perfectly Preserved over the top and added crystal effects, allowing it to dry before cutting out with my sharp paper snips. It does look quite realistic in real life!

Can you see how shiny it is? Those ears of wheat next to the jam are from the retiring Autumn Days - such a favourite set of mine! I hooked some of the Perfectly Preserved cherries over the crate to look as if they were spilling out.

The apple was made with a circle punch, sponge daubers and ink and has a stalk made from the cherries stem. I might do a tutorial on this because I quite like how realistic it looks and it was really quick and easy! I finished the card with a bit of rustic linen thread and a sentiment cut out with the modern label punch and fastened to the crate with brads - I love that I can just reach for brads that match the wheat!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Autumn Days (retiring), Apothecary Art (sentiment)
Ink: Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, More Mustard
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso Core'dinations
Other: Woodgrain embossing folder, sanding block, Big Shot, Modern Label punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, markers, Crystal Effects, brads, linen thread, paper snips

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. 

What is it about my family and food? My oldest son can't get enough cereal and meat (although thankfully not at the same time!) My daughter calls him 'My brother, the Sarlac' (referring to a creature on Star Wars that eats anything and everything and which appears as a hole in the desert with teeth and tentacles!) This is a little hypocritical though... the other day she suggested we had chocolates for pudding and I had to remind her we'd just HAD pudding! 

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I have a quick autumnal card to show you. Hope to see you then,

Perfectly Preserved in three minutes!

Aargh - autumn has suddenly happened! It seems only yesterday I was disporting myself on the beaches of Kent and now suddenly I'm in a jumper and scarf and am toying with the idea of getting my boots out!

One of the things I love about the autumn around here is that people with fruit trees in their gardens share their crop and you find houses with crates and boxes outside with notices instructing passers by to help themselves. Isn't that lovely? It's what has inspired today's card which I've made for One Layer Wednesday, where Cheryl has an autumn theme, and Addicted to Stamps where the challenge is to use markers. Come and have a look:

It's Three Minute Thursday here today so this is a very quick and simple one-layer card. I've used the Perfectly Preserved set in the new autumn/winter catalogue - and actually managed NOT to use the jar today (it was a close call though!) I stamped the gingham apples first, stamping off once on scrap paper before making my impression on the card base. TIP: Stampin' Up's grid paper is useful for quickly working out the centre of your card base when stamping a symmetrical group.  Using my stamp-a-majig to get the positioning right, I stamped the other stylised apples over the top.

Once the apples were in place, I added the leaves and sentiment and finished by doodling little bows on the apples and rounding the bottom corners of the card. I used some of this year's In-Colours for this card - I am LOVING these new colours!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Midnight Muse marker, corner rounder, 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. 

Talking of quick and easy, I had the most delicious lunch yesterday, courtesy of the lovely Irene who sent very kindly me her recipe for cheese scones.

I'm a bit of a fiend for cheese scones and had wolfed down two before anyone else in the family got a look in! They managed to elbow me aside however and the scones were voted a huge success!

I'll be back tomorrow with something quite different! See you then,

Perfectly Preserved goes vintage

I was so pleased that my son's 'happy first day at school card' was picked as a favourite at CASual Fridays last week! This week's challenge is to use embossing and since Perfectly Preserved is my new go-to set, I reached for that. Come and see what I made:

The Perfectly Preserved set comes with flowers and gorgeous, stylised fruit to put in the jar but I've been thinking of all the other things you can put in it... hearts, leaves, stars, snowflakes, sweets etc So how about pens!  These are cut from one of the papers in the Attic Boutique range, sadly now retired, and I used another of the papers for the backdrop. I ran it through the Big Shot with the stripes embossing folder and gave it a sponge-over with Early Espresso ink.

The jar was stamped on acetate using white Stazon before cutting out (there are framelits to make this job easy!) and I cut a slot in the top of the jar with a craft knife to slide the pens into. The jar is attached to the card with glue dots cunningly concealed under the pens and the sentiment strip!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Summer Starfruit, Stazon white
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Other: Acetate, Early Espresso marker, Stripes embossing folder, Big Shot, Attic Boutique designer paper (retired), 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. 

I've just been talking to my eldest son about his English class. He'd been given An Inspector Calls and The Crucible to read over the holidays and it turns out that he'll be studying An Inspector Calls. He told me he was glad as he'd found The Crucible 'weird'. "I expect it made you think though," I suggested. He looked at me as if I'd run mad. "No!" he said indignantly. This the boy who once memorably said to me: "You're only saying that to make me think - but I'm not stupid!" And of course he's not. I expect he's just conserving energy.

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I've got a fast card using the new In-Colours to show you. Hope to see you then,

Loads of Perfectly Preserved jars

I've decided not to carry on with my regular Masculine Monday slot as I found it was my least popular post of the week. I'll continue to make masculine cards of course and, if you're here looking for male inspiration, just take a look under 'male cards' in the index on my side bar and you'll find plenty of ideas!

Today I want to show you another card I've made with the wonderful Perfectly Preserved set in the new autumn/winter catalogue. This set, with its fabulous jar image, has already provided me with a great deal of fun and I'm certainly not finished with it yet! Come and have a look:

I love the look of recycled glass and found that stamping that gorgeous jar in Gumball Green several times on the card stock gave the effect of a group of them. I added the stalk and the allium style flower head to one of the jars before sponging in a background.

The panel was mounted onto a Basic Grey card base with a ribbed feature made with my Simply Scored board. I finished with this useful thank you tag from the set, stamped in the wonderfully acidic new in-colour Summer Starfruit and popped up on dimensionals...

... and added matching die cut butterflies - oh the beauty of ink and card stock in the same colours!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Gumball Green, Garden Green, Baja Breeze, Summer Starfruit
Card stock: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Summer Starfruit
Other: Gumball Green marker, Simply Scored, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, small oval punch, 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. 

It's been a glorious weekend in Buckingham and we found ourselves wishing we'd planned a trip to the coast. Instead, my husband and I did DIY jobs around the house and garden while the children enjoyed time with their friends. The boys in particular like to hang out with bunches of other boys - in fact I worried slightly that they might get bored with us on holiday and mentioned it to my oldest son before we went. "Oh I'll never be bored," he said cheerfully. "If the worst comes to the worst I can always eat!"

I'll be back tomorrow with another idea for that gorgeous jar (do tell me if you're getting bored with it won't you!)

Hugs,

Retiring stamps with a new twist

Well I knuckled down to make an autumnal card this morning despite the fact it's blazing hot and looking like summer! The reason is that I've been able to join in with Less is More again this week (yay!) where Chrissie and Mandi want to see one-layer cards with a Foliage theme. My card was also made for One Layer Wednesday - it's Susan's turn to host and she's challenging us to make cards for her Gratitude Campaign. Come and see what I've made:

I've used the leaf from the sadly retiring Autumn Days (just check out my alphabetical index in my side bar to see how many cards I've made with that wonderful set!) but I've given it a new look by teaming it with the jar from my brand, spanking new Perfectly Preserved set. I LOVE  this jar to bits!

To get this look, I made two masks - one where I cut around the outside of the jar and one where I cut a hole inside the jar. (There are framelits available to make cutting out all the elements in this set a doddle, but they don't work as masks.) I stamped the leaves in the jar through the negative mask, stamping the jar over the top using Whisper White craft ink, then covered the whole thing with the other mask while I sponged in the background.  To finish, I discarded the masks (keeping them in the box for next time) and added more leaves.

I'm afraid I made a bit of a pigs ear of the sentiment! I stamped it in the white craft ink but left it too long before embossing in white - I should have used versamark. The finishing touch was to add dots of versamark pen and embossing those in white to give the idea that something magical's going on - and so it is: feeling thankful for what you have, no matter how little, makes you feel great!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Autumn Days (retiring), Sincere Salutations (retiring), Perfectly Preserved (NEW!)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Early Espresso classic inks, Whisper White craft ink
Card stock: Crumb Cake
Other: White embossing powder, versamark pen (retiring), Heat Tool (retiring), paper snips, 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. 

Our cat Tuppence is lying comatose in the sunshine. Did anyone read the story on the news last week about the man whose aging cat had taken to falling asleep all over the place and couldn't be roused? The cat had gone to sleep on the top of his rubbish bin and a passing cat lover had gone to stroke her; the cat was in its customary deep slumber and didn't stir and the passer by phoned the RSPCA believing it had died and been put out with the rubbish! I mentioned this story to Tuppence which is why she's sticking to her favourite chair!

I'll be back on Monday when I'll have another Perfectly Preserved idea to show you. Hope to see you then,