Golden wedding anniversary using Stippled Blossoms by Stampin' Up

Last week, I was asked to make a card to celebrate 50 years of marriage - a golden wedding anniversary! I immediately reached for Stampin' Up's Memorable Moments stamp set with its beautiful numbers and sentiments but what to put with it? How about some beautiful deep yellow, velvety roses...?

Stippled Blossoms is the most beautiful set and always makes me catch my breath when I see cards made with it. It's a two step stampin' set too and that meant I could heat emboss the outline/detail image in gold and stamp the solid image over the top using yellow ink.

This worked well but I wanted to intensify the colour to give that velvety look - and how better to do that than with my beloved blendabilities markers!

I added an embossed gold sentiment, cutting out the numbers to give them more prominence. The panel was mounted onto Brushed Gold card stock for an elegant look.

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

Stippled Blossoms Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Memorable Moments Clear-Mount Stamp Set
So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Brushed Gold A4 Card Stock

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.

My children are all having the most wonderful holidays! My daughter is currently swanning about in France, my eldest son is out on a shopping trip with one of his mates (I'm glad I made the most of our shopping trips in the past because they're definitely off the menu now!) and my youngest son has just returned from swimming with friends. "I've been in the steam room mum!" he told me, throwing his swimming bag down by the front door. "Really?" I said, making a mental note to rescue the bag before it turns into a mildewing mess! "I think it's the most relaxing place," continued my son, mine-sweeping the kitchen for sustenance. "The only things missing are candles and someone playing the pan pipes!"

Thanks for joining me today. It's Artisan Design Team blog hop day tomorrow and I know that everyone on the team has been working hard to inspire you, so do come back and hop with us then!

A one layer thank you with Stippled Blossoms

I seem to be running out of my stash of thank you cards so the challenge at Less is More this week is very timely - to make a one layer thank you card. I loved the colours at the ColourQ as always and thought they might give my Stippled Blossoms an autumnal feel. Come and see what you think:

Stippled Blossoms is one of Stampin' Up's two step stamping sets where you stamp a solid image then add a coordinating one over the top for a beautifully detailed result. I stamped my roses in this way then, after cleaning my stamp, I stamped the solid image again over the top using versamark ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. This made the images resistant to ink so that when I stamped the leaves over the top, they appeared to be behind the roses when I wiped the excess ink away with a tissue.

The flowers were surrounded with a little blue ink applied with a sponge and I added the fabulous sentiment using Early Espresso ink which was heat embossed with clear embossing powder too. I liked this CAS version but wondered what it would look like with more intense colour:

The deeper colour background does ground those flowers and makes them really pop! Which version do you prefer?

By the way, I  used the ready-made notecards on page 162 of the annual catalogue for this card. They come with envelopes and are great for quick one layer cards.

This is the gorgeous colour palette I was using today:

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

Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Four You

Ink: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Soft Sky, Early Espresso

Card stock: Whisper White notecards with envelopes

Other: Versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, 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.

When my children were small I once told them that the way they behaved was important as they were 'the reception desk of this family'. The phrase amused us and has entered our family phraseology but I'd forgotten all about it until yesterday. My brother has been staying with us and has been the focus of some enthusiastic attention from our cat Tuppence. When he left yesterday evening, Tuppence was so beside herself that I had to tell her not to let herself down! My daughter chipped in. "Yes Tuppence," she said. "You seem to have forgotten that you are the reception desk of this family!"

Thank you for visiting me today. See you tomorrow,

How to use Stampin' Up's new in-colours

Each time a new annual catalogue is launched, I'm always thrilled to work with the new in-colours. I was bowled over by this years new colours and have spent some very happy paper moments getting to know them. Come and see:

Pistachio Pudding
This gorgeous new green has quite a lot of blue in it so will pair best with blues, purples and the bluer pinks and reds. It's a lovely ice-cream shade too so other ice cream colours will work well with it. For my tonal sample I chose Garden Green as the darker shade.

Stamped with Summer Silhouettes

Crisp Cantaloupe
I love the vintage feel of this gorgeous colour. It's quite ice cream-ish too (or am I just feeling a bit peckish?!) so the Pistachio is a nice partner for it, and I love the way it looks with browns too. For my tonal sample, I brought in Calypso Coral and Cajun Craze for even more depth.

Stamped with Stippled Blossoms

Baked Brown Sugar
This fabulous new brown is as rich and golden as its name suggests. Try this with pretty much any other colour and it will look wonderful! For my tonal sample I gave some other browns a work out - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.

Stamped with Fine Feathers

Coastal Cabana
Blue greens are so 'now' and this beautiful colour works with so many of Stampin' Up's existing shades! For contrast, hot pinks, reds, yellows and oranges will give a lovely tropical feel but if you want to bring the temperature right down, Pool Party is its paler partner for an icy look. I chose to add in darker shades for my tonal sample with Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo.

Stamped with World Treasures

Strawberry Slush
The fifth new colour has another delicious-sounding name. It's a pink quite different to any in the existing range but is closest to Primrose Petals, though much brighter. I like it with Pacific Point, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green or Crushed Curry. For my tonal sample I gave it a background of Pink Pirouette but Blushing Bride would work well too.

Stamped with Mosaic Madness

The new in-colours come in:
• Smooth card stock
• Core'dinations sandable, textured cardstock
• Ink pads and ink re-fills
• Markers
• Designer paper stacks
• Stretch ruffle ribbon
• Boutique buttons
so there's plenty of room for coordination there!

This has been a pretty long post so I won't bore you with details of the cards. If you have any queries though, or if you'd like to place an order with me, just send an email.
• Don't forget that during the month of July, you'll get a free catalogue with an order over £30, plus a handmade gift from me!

I'll be back tomorrow with a fast card for Three Minute Thursday. See you then!

A bank of stippled blossoms

The large flower in Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms stamp set is such a show-stopper that it immediately came to mind when I saw the challenge at Make My Monday this week: to make a clean and simple card featuring flowers. Come and see what I've been up to:

The bank of smaller flowers was made by repeated stamping and stamping off with the solid stamp, then going back over them with the detailed stamp. This gives quite a bit of depth which is emphasised by adding leaves amongst the blooms.

The flowers are so pretty and provide the perfect foil for the queen of them all! This one has been stamped and fussy cut with the larger leaves, then popped up over the smaller flowers.

I love this sentiment from Life Shared, which will be retiring at the end of this month, and think it's perfect for another crafter. Can you see the 'running stitch' style scoring? It's easy to add subtle scoring detail with the Borders plate which fits neatly into the Simply Scored tool.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Life Shared (retiring at the end of June)
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Real Red, Gumball Green, Garden Green
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored, paper snips, 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.

Forgive me for not being very chatty today but a man from the UPS delivery service came round yesterday with some VERY exciting boxes. If you live in a five mile radius of me, please do not worry about the noise, I'm just a little bit over excited... SQUEEEEEEEAL!!!

See you tomorrow!

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!

Stippled Blossoms chalkboard-style

• I'm delighted to announce that it will be even easier to go shopping with me now that I have an online shop with links to all the gorgeous Stampin' Up products! Once you've made an account with me, you can shop at any time, day or night (without waking me up!) - and my blog feeds into the shop too so you can check which products you need for your projects if you need to. Do pop over and bookmark it now - and don't forget to let me know what you think!

Meanwhile, Stippled Blossoms is still the set that I can't get enough of and today I'm showing you how it looks stamped chalkboard style (if you've been on my facebook page, you'll know where the inspiration came from!) Come and have a look:

It's easy to create these trendy chalkboard images: you just stamp in Whisper White craft ink, dry it off and stamp or colour over the top with markers. It gives a wonderfully chalky look!

I find it's best to use bright colours because the craft ink really fades them out to authentically chalky shades. I added the centres of the small flowers with my white gel pen.

This bold sentiment has been stamped in versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I scored a frame round the front panel and sponged the edges with more of that Whisper White craft ink to add to the chalkboard feel. This sentiment never fails to make me giggle as it reminds me of Kenneth Williams! I shall be keeping it for when my daughter leaves home and I need to send her a note card as I know it will make her giggle too!

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Oh Hello
Ink: Whisper White Craft ink, Melon Mambo classic ink and markers
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White (for lining)
Other: Simply Scored, White gel pen, versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool, 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 PLACE YOUR ORDER INSTANTLY, GO TO MY ONLINE SHOP OR, IF YOU HAVE QUERIES, SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• 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

I asked my youngest son if he remembered blackboards. "Oh yes," he said. "When I was in year 3 we had a Victorian day and they put a blackboard up instead of the whiteboard and gave us all slates to write on!" I began to feel ancient at this point and hobbled through to the kitchen to make a revivifying cup of tea!

It's Three Minute Thursday tomorrow and I wonder if you can guess what set I'll be using...?! See you tomorrow,

Another way with Stippled Blossoms

You may just get a bit fed up with hearing me go on about how gorgeous Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms is... I keep thinking of new things to do with it and loving it even more! If you're after a showy bloom, that large flower is a must but the smaller flower is quite capable of carrying a card too. Come and see:

My usual thing is stamping a panel and mounting it onto a plain card base but I decided to turn that idea on its head for this card!  I stamped a floral design over the card base with the solid flower and small leaves, then placed a plain panel over the top featuring just the sentiment, a fussy cut flower, a scored frame and plenty of white space.

You really do have to get some of these little dahlias - quite a bit of the time it took to make this card was spent squealing over them! They come in all the latest in-colours and are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! The fussy cut flower is given more importance than the background ones by having the detailed line image stamped over the top in a darker colour. (I used Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple which make a perfect pair) and by giving it a dimensional centre.

This happy birthday from Curly Cute makes a good strong focus to the card. There are rumours that this wonderful set of sentiments might retire quite soon so I would advise you to get it soon if you're a fan!

I thought I might link this card up as a second entry to Addicted to CAS where the challenge is Birthday and the fabulous new (to me) CAS on Sunday where the team is looking for Pastel Pretties.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Curly Cute, Summer Silhouettes (background flower centres)
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Garden Green, Summer Starfruit
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored tool, paper snips, In colour dahlias, 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.
• Get more for your money - 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

It still appears to be winter in Buckingham this week but what I don't understand is that the garden has decided to ignore this and press on regardless. "The garden needs an assault," said my husband yesterday. "Salt?" I said, mis-hearing him and thinking of triffids. "Isn't that a little drastic?!" 

I'll have more floral loveliness to show you tomorrow I think. See you then,

Stippled Blossoms with many wishes

When it comes to Stippled Blossoms, I've really got the bit between my teeth! I used it today to make a card using the gorgeous sketch at CASe this sketch - come and see:

Using one of my favourite colour combinations, I started by stamping the large flower and added the smaller flowers and leaves afterwards. Stippled Blossoms is a two-step stamping set so you stamp the solid image first and then stamp over them with the line image to get a lot of definition. You can use a stamp-a-majig to do this but sometimes I think it's nice if it's not too accurate (or perhaps I'm just saying that because mine isn't too accurate LOL!)

Markers are brilliant for giving the flowers coordinating detail and I used the same colour card stock to mat the panel. 

I expect you noticed that the sentiment has gone slightly wrong... It was going to say 'sending happy birthday wishes' and then I got carried away and used 'wishing you' instead so I'll have to send this to someone who has the sense of humour to appreciate the many, many wishes involved!

This is the sketch I was working with today:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Hopeful Wishes and Petite Pairs (sentiment)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Summer Starfruit, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango
Other: Markers, 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.
• Get more for your money - 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

I asked my youngest son whether when he was little he'd believed the wishes he'd made when blowing out his birthday candles. "Yes," he said. "Because they always came true!" He paused. "Of course they were things that were quite likely to come true," he added. "Like wishing we could have take away curry for tea and that I could go to bed late!" What a sweetie he is - always delighted with the simple things in life!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Stippled Blossoms creation. See you then!

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
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.
• Get more for your money - 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

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.