Make a card for a male using designer paper from Stampin' Up

CALLING ALL BARGAIN HUNTERS!
Before I show you today's card,  I must just remind those of you that love a bargain that Stampin' Up's Stamp Stock and Save promotion is ending later this evening! If you'd like to take advantage of discounted prices on basics like card stock, envelopes and ink pads or selected stamp sets, click here to browse the Stamp Stock and Save section of my shop or contact me if you'd like me to help you.

A GET WELL KISS FOR A MALE
Men are notorious for being terrible patients (although, apparently they're NEVER ill!) I don't know quite how that works so I've made a masculine get well card just in case! Come and see:

I rather enjoyed cutting things out of designer paper while making my box of thank you cards here so I thought I'd do it again! This cute chap turns up on the border of a fabulous design in the Motley Monsters designer paper stack:

I love this paper pack - and don't be fooled into thinking it's only good for halloween! I made these birthday cards with these papers for example and every single paper in this pack is perfect for other occasions.

• By the way, if you love designer paper, now is the perfect time for you to join Stampin' Up! New demonstrators that join before 24th October will get to choose a pack of paper EVERY month for SIX months after signing up - and that's on top of all the other benefits!

Here's a close up of my poorly little monster. I'm just about to take his temperature - say 'ahhh' little monster! Oh no, I think he's in pain! What he needs is a big kiss...

... to make it better! I love the way you can stamp the first half of this double sentiment on your card front and the other half inside the card! It's from Petite Pairs, the set with lots of double sentiments - AND it's one of the stamp sets that's been reduced by 20%! It's now available at £21.63 wood mount or £17.46 cling mount - but hurry, the offer ends TODAY!

I used the fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches to make this card so I'll be linking up over there.

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

Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper £9.95	Color Me Autumn Designer Washi Tape £4.50	Petite Pairs - Clear-Mount Stamp £20.95
Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Whisper White A4 Card Stock £7.50	1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch £14.25

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me 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.

When my children were little I used to call them poorly puddings when they were ill to cheer them up. I remember once finding my two-year-old eldest son sitting on his bed looking very woebegone, with his big blue eyes filled with tears. "Mummy," he said. "Will you wipe away my ears?"

There'll be more crafting fun here tomorrow - see you then!

Hardwood and Hellebores

There's been a return to cold gloomy weather here in the heart of England so I decided to get some winter woollies on and make some Christmas cards! I had plenty of inspiration from Merry Mondays with a fabulous Grey, Red and White colour palette, 52 {CCT} with a theme of Paper Flowers and of course Rudolph Day where two Christmas cards are required! Come and see:

Like everyone else, I am potty about the new Hardwood stamp and the Petite Petals set! (These just keep going out of stock as everyone wants them!) I inked only two thirds of my panel with Hardwood and stamped a leaf and berry image over the top, colouring in the leaves with an aquapainter and adding berries with markers.

This delicate hellebore-style flower looks so beautiful stamped in any colour but I stamped mine in versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. You can't really see here but I added a sprinkle of superfine silver glitter before it dried so it has a subtle glimmer in real life, and I added extra shine with gems.

The sentiment is from Petite Pairs and has a lovely second part to stamp inside the card: 'and a happy, joyful, bright new year!'

Now, the question is, did I really make two of these?

Yes of course I did!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Hardwood wood or cling, Petite Petals wood or cling
Simply Sketched (hostess set, conditions apply)

Ink: Smoky Slate, Real Red classic inks, plus Neutrals markers and Real Red marker

Card stock: Whisper White, Real Red

Other: Petite Petals punch, Basic rhinestones, versamark, white embossing powder, heat 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 (excl. p&p)

Does it really have to rain ALL day?! You know when you get ready in the morning and you want your hair to look like this:

And then at the end of the day, you catch a glimpse of it in the mirror looking more like this:

See you tomorrow,

A Simply Sketched bit of twine

When I saw the challenge at Less is More to use twine, I went for an unusual idea (here) for my first entry but you know, sometimes a simple idea works too! Here's my second entry:

Oh I do enjoy making a sponged scene! This one was made in autumnal coloured inks with the bird from the wonderful Simply Sketched hostess set teamed with the grasses from Love and Sympathy and Wetlands.

Stampin' Up's linen thread works beautifully with these country-style scenes and one of my favourite ways to use it is to nibble an indent either side of the card with a punch and use it to anchor the twine. I used the ornament punch from the Merry Minis punch pack to make my indents.

I made a little box to go with this card. It housed a gift for a lovely customer of mine to thank her for using my online shop for the first time when it launched. The fabulous leaf and berry image is another of the stunning stamps in the Simply Sketched set.

This would make a pretty Christmas presentation box if you swapped the colours for traditional greens and reds and perhaps added a little glitter! I love making these boxes and am currently working on a video tutorial to show you how easy they are!

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

Stamps: Simply Sketched, Love and Sympathy, Wetlands, Petite Pairs

Ink: Always Artichoke, Summer Starfruit, Wild Wasabi, Crumb Cake

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze

Other: Markers, Merry Minis punch pack, 3/4" circle punch, linen thread, Simply Scored, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop 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.

We had such a wonderful time yesterday evening! We always celebrate halloween by going out for a family meal and this time we chose to go to Las Iguanas for an evening of fabulous South American flavour! Half way through the evening one of us wondered why the large table next to us remained empty... until we decided it was probably already occupied - by a family of ghosts!

Hope you have a lovely weekend,

Three minute Best of Flowers

I don't think I've ever come over so floral in my life - and I'm loving it! I used to think that having a few florals in my collection would cover all eventualities but I've now realised that's like a garden planted with just one or two kinds of flowers! Secret Garden, Summer Silhouettes, Stippled Blossoms, Fabulous Florets, Field Flowers, Pleasant Poppies - they've all become firm favourites and I'm now adding Best of Flowers to the list. Today's quick card uses the gorgeous hydrangea image from the set - come and have a look:

I used an off-cut of Whisper White I'd been stamping on previously. It had some pink stamping still showing on it and I immediately saw that it could feature in a background. You'd be surprised how often your off-cuts can be turned into quick, 'arty' backgrounds!

The hydrangea stamp was inked up with Garden Green and Marina Mist markers, then the flower head was tapped with a Rich Razzleberry marker. I huffed on it, stamped it a couple of times and gave it a quick wash-over with an aqua painter. The scene was cut out with my trusty 2 1/2" circle punch and the edges roughed up and sponged before stamping with a sentiment, sprinkling with gems and mounting onto the card front.

I'm going to link this card up to Di's snippety playground where Miss will be having her work cut out getting us to keep our sun hats on this week!

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Petite Pairs
Ink: Blushing Bride, Marina Mist, Garden Green classic inks, stazon black
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Garden Green, Marina Mist and Rich Razzleberry markers, 2 1/2" circle punch, Basic rhinestones, aqua painter, 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.

To those ladies that asked to see my Rampaging Rector, I couldn't possibly show you pictures of my wilderness er I mean garden but I promise there'll be a photo when the roses are out and and the Rector is looking his best! In the meantime though, how about this wonderful bloom that surprised me by opening out on my birthday last week:

It's a peony which I bought for just pennies at a car boot sale three or four years ago, planted and then forgot all about because it just sat there sulking. This year it's suddenly decided it's going to be happy after all! We live in such an 'instant' society but time and time again I'm reminded that being patient really is a good plan.

Do join me again tomorrow when there'll be more floral offerings of the inky variety - and also a very special CAKE!!!

Playing tag with the Best of Flowers

My lovely local garden centre is very helpful but there were still some raised eyebrows when I turned up there one afternoon and told them I was looking for a Rambling Rector (for the uninitiated - it's a rose!) I returned home with a healthy specimen to coax over a rose arch and three years later, it doesn't so much ramble as run riot! Yesterday I had the chance to either cut it back or have a go with my Best of Flowers set... Well, what would you have done?! Come and see what I made:

I adore this wonderful silhouetted daisy image and it's perfect for teaming with inky backgrounds. This one was made by masking off an area on a tag cut with the Two Tags Bigz die and sponging in colour, then adding the daisies and a sentiment with black stazon ink.

When you use colours that are quite close to each other on the colour wheel (I've used Old Olive and Pool Party here) they are easy to blend for that 'airbrushed' look. TIP: always sponge colour on lightly - remember, you can always add but you can't take away!

I chose a sentiment from Petite Pairs and added an Old Olive button threaded with linen twine. You'll find these buttons on the Retirement Accessories list (below) as well as the Two Tags die I used today.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Petite Pairs
Ink: Old Olive, Pool Party classic inks, Stazon black
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Big Shot, Two Tags Bigz die (retiring), Brights designer buttons (retiring), linen thread, 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 but in the meantime, you can nab yourself a BARGAIN!!! Click here to find 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.

So you see, I didn't quite manage to get out in the garden with my secateurs - oops! Perhaps there'll be time later... I hope to be back here tomorrow with more Best of Flowers inspiration - but if I'm not, you'll know I've been got by the Rampaging Rector - aaaaargh!

Hugs,

Three Minute sponged Stippled Blossoms

Good morning and welcome to Three Minute Thursday, my day for producing a super-fast Stampin' Up card. If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know that I have been in the grip of Stippled Blossoms fever for the past week - I just can't get enough of this fabulous set! But is it any good for quick cards? Of course it is! Come and see:

Using a torn piece of paper as a mask, I sponged a bit of Lucky Limeade ink over the bottom of some lovely speckled Naturals White card stock. The solid, small flower was stamped using Pacific Point ink and a little more of the ink was used to sponge around the sky area. I used a marker to ink up and stamp a leaf, draw a stem and doodle a centre for the flower.

The sentiment was added using my stamp-a-majig to position it accurately - and there we are: a card in around three minutes! Of course I then decided it needed some Island Indigo bakers twine and it took another three hours to tie the bow for some reason!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Petite Pairs
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Pacific Point
Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals White
Other: Lucky Limeade marker, Island Indigo bakers twine, stamp-a-majig
Click here to order Stampin' Up supplies any time of day or night from my online shop. If you have questions or would like advice, send me an email - I'm always happy to help!

• You can get more for your money this month: 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

Have you noticed the new shopping button in my side bar? I've been chatting to friends about 24 hour shopping and it's amazing how many of us do our shopping in the middle of the night! I remember when our local supermarket announced that it would be open 24 hours. I was in the middle of having my babies at the time and would sometimes turn up there at 3am in the morning feeling that I was having a real expedition!

See you tomorrow!

A ride under the sea

We really are well into March now and the Sale-a-bration promotion has just two weeks to run. Do make sure you get your order in before the 22nd March if you'd like to take advantage of all the fabulous free items up for grabs. There's a brilliant offer if you're interested in joining Stampin' Up too and it's so much easier than you may think. I'd love you to join my team of lovely ladies (there are no gents on our team - not yet anyway!) whether you're interested in setting up a business or would like to take your hobby to the next level. Click the link for more info, or feel free to give me a call on 01280 820593.

Now, on to today's card: one of my favourite Stampin' Up products is the Simply Scored tool which enables you not only to make boxes and bags with ease but to add decorative embossed lines to your projects too. There are added boards which fit into the basic board - including the latest offering, the Borders score plate. I've been using it today with By the Tide from the new spring/summer mini catalogue - come and see:

On Monday's card I used waves to add texture to a stamped image; today I've used the smaller waves to create a vertical background strip behind my focal image. There are so many ways to use this score tool!

Look at this sweet seahorse from By the Tide! I've heat-embossed him in regal silver and set him in an underwater world made by stamping with an inked up acrylic block and overstamping with the coral image from the set. Punched leaves and flowers set with pearls add an exotic feel.

I love this sentiment from Petite Pairs, a stamp set with sentiments in two halves so that you can use them inside the card as well as outside. I've only used part of this one but it usually says 'I'm here for you' and has a partner that says 'no matter what' - which I think is really lovely for a supportive card.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: By the Tide, Petite Pairs
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Summer Starfruit, Island Indigo
Card stock: Whisper White plus scraps of Island Indigo, Garden Green, Cameo Coral
Punches: Itty Bitty punch pack, 2 step bird punch (for the leaves)
Other: Silver embossing powder, versamark, heat tool, Basic Pearls, Simply Scored and Borders plate, stamp-a-majig
I'D BE DELIGHTED TO 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 PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

I did think today's card would be suitable for a mothers day card but it seems that seahorses females lay their eggs in a pouch on the male where they're fertilised and he carries them until birth - possibly while the females go off shopping! Men everywhere must be thrilled that this is not an option for humans and looking back at my pregnancies I think I'll deserve that cup of tea in bed on Sunday!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you very soon.

The perfect sentiment

I've been having a bit of an equine moment on my blog this week but I'm interrupting this broadcast for a very special lady... step forward the lovely Darnell! It's Darnell's wedding anniversary today and I wanted to wish her a very happy one along with some of her other friends here in Blogland.

I admire this lady tremendously - she's overcome a terrible start in life and it has made her strong and wise instead of bitter and inward-looking. She has positivity, empathy and zest for life (as well as an interesting way with words!) and I am delighted that there are lots of virtual hugs heading her way today! I've made her a card to celebrate her wedding anniversary - come and have a look:

For my heart plants I've used some a stamp that isn't even available yet (yes, Darnell, you get a sneaky peek at one of the upcoming Sale-a-bration stamps!) I've stamped several of this gorgeous leaf image on top of each other to represent a plant of lurve that has grown strong and healthy!

I've topped the plants with punched hearts: a textured one for Mister and one sporting a diamond for Darnell because she's a treasure! And check out the two-part sentiment! I think you'll all agree that this sentiment is SO perfect for Darnell - Happy anniversary...

... to someone who makes others so happy. Congratulations Darnell and Mister and may you have many more happy years together. xx

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Madison Avenue (not yet available), Teeny Tiny Wishes, Petite Pairs
Ink: Gumball Green, Lucky Limeade, Basic Grey
Card stock: Very Vanilla, scraps of Raspberry Ripple and Cherry Cobbler
Other: 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.

• There's only one place left for my Stampers 6 club starting in February. Do let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to join in - you'll get a free spring/summer catalogue, the opportunity to earn Sale-a-bration freebies as well as getting at least £25 of free items from the catalogue - all for placing an order of £25 or more each month for six months!

I'm looking forward to seeing Darnell's wedding anniversary post today - she has said she'll be posting a wedding photo of herself and Mister. So, to join in with the fun, we're all posting a photo of our wedding day (in fact this one's been on my blog before but is the only one I can lay my hands on at the moment...) My husband and I look terribly romantic but I'm sure we're wondering where the loos are, or giggling about something rude great aunt Mabel said quite audibly during the ceremony. Actually I'm making that bit up - I don't have a great aunt Mabel to my knowledge and if I did I'm pretty sure she would be sadly well-behaved!
• If you'd like to join in with Darnell's surprise party, we're all getting together at Ardyth's linky!

Normal service will resume here tomorrow when I'll be back with a quick card for Three Minute Thursday. See you then!

Three Minute snowflake cards

If you're anything like me, you'll be congratulating yourself on being wonderfully organised about Christmas and then suddenly realise you've run out of Christmas cards for the neighbours! Luckily, it's quick and easy to run up a batch of my three minute cards today. Come and have a look:

It's the cutting that takes most time on these cards (although if you have Stampin' Up's table top cutter, you can get everything cut in no time at all as it enables you to make accurate cuts through four or five sheets of card stock at once!)

The panel is stamped with a Cherry Cobbler sentiment and surrounded by three snowflakes from Mixed Medley stamped in Real Red ink. I mounted this onto a Cherry Cobbler mat before attaching to the Crumb Cake card base - the different reds give a bit of depth to this simple card.

To finish the card I added a tiny circle of red glimmer paper cut out with my hand held hole punch - it fits the snowflake centre perfectly.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Mixed Medley, Petite Pairs
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Real Red
Card stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Red glimmer paper, hand held 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

I don't think the British Isles are going to see any snow over the Christmas holiday this year - from the forecast it looks as if it's going to be wet instead. But even if we did see a snowflake or two, I'd be extremely surprised if they were red!

Now, it's time for me to roll my sleeves up and get cooking as we're expecting company this evening! See you tomorrow for a final post before we pull the shutters down for Christmas.
Hugs,