Hooray! A male card for a gardener

My brother, Ray, celebrated his birthday last week. He's a lovely man who gets great pleasure from his garden, so I made this card for him:

It's unusual for me to combine lots of different stamp sets on one card but I used no fewer than four sets on this little scene! Can you spot them?

After sponging in 'earth' using a ripped piece of paper as a mask, I added grasses from Wetlands; the trowel from Tag It; speckles from Gorgeous Grunge; and a sentiment from Geometrical. When I first saw this sentiment I saw immediately how I could pick my brother's name out in a different colour and got very excited!

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

Stamps: Wetlands wood or cling, Tag It wood or cling
Gorgeous Grunge wood or cling, Geometrical wood or cling

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Pear Pizzazz classic inks, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Stampin' sponges, 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 ONE OF THESE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SETS WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

We're enjoying a heat wave here in Buckingham which, combined with all that rain we had in the spring, means the triffids in my garden are preparing to pounce! If I'm not back on Monday, you'll know what's happened...!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Getting inky with the Wetlands goose

I had a phone call the other day from a lovely lady who mentioned Stampin' Up's Wetlands stamp set and got me all fired up about it again; on the same day I was experimenting with acrylic block inky backgrounds and I came up with a 'kissing' technique. These seemingly unconnected events explain why this gorgeous goose has popped his head up to say hello today - come and have a look:

The acrylic block was inked up and then the circle stamp from Geometrical was stamped onto the block - the 'kissing' technique. When the block was sprayed, the circles softened and turned into arty bush shapes as you can see in the close-up below:

Isn't that the perfect home for the Wetlands goose?! I used a masking technique to enable his tail feathers to poke out of the frame so I'm linking up with Less is More for the second time this week - the challenge there is Masking and Stencilling. My goose will also enter the Make Your Mark challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

For those that like a video, here's how I made this card (with the bits where I dropped everything and stuck my elbows in the ink edited out!)

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

Stamps: Wetlands wood or cling, Geometrical wood or cling

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky, Gumball Green, Baked Brown Sugar classic inks
Whisper White craft ink, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Acrylic Block D, aquapainter, 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)

I remember when my children were tots, taking them down to the river in the winter with bread for the ducks and geese that live there. I would tell them how difficult it was for the birds to find enough food and how grateful they would be for our scraps. In fact Buckingham is a place with a lot of young families, many of whom had the same idea, so the reality was that we would arrive at the river to find the wildlife practically reclining on lilos in the river, sipping champagne and snacking on caviar blinis!

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

Hello lovely Wetlands birds!

Like most other stampers, my idea of a happy moment is to sit down to craft with no time constraints, no chance of being interrupted and lots of lovely stash to choose from! That was how this card came about:

The Direct To Card Stock ink technique is such a favourite technique of mine - You get beautiful, unique backgrounds every time and it's so simple to do! I swiped my Whisper White card stock with Soft Sky and Blushing Bride to make a background with a wintery feel and stamped the birds from Stampin' Up's gorgeous Wetlands stamp set over the top using Midnight Muse ink.

I like to add just one or two little details to my cards to complement the stamping and here I chose a line of piercing and one of the Essentials hardware clips with a tiny bakers twine bow tied to it. I love these little clips - they're flat so they don't add too much bulk and with an arrow and ampersand to choose from, as well as the paper clip I used today, they're bang on trend.

The card was finished with this sentiment from Happy Day. It usually says 'Hello there' but using my Midnight Muse marker and a stamp-a-majig I was easily able to use just the part of the sentiment I wanted.

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

Stamps: Wetlands, Happy Day

Ink: Midnight Muse, Blushing Bride, Soft Sky

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: Midnight Muse markers, Essentials hardware clips, Calypso Coral bakers twine, Essentials piercing template, piercing mat and 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.

After a great New Year's Eve celebration involving music, dancing, fireworks (on the telly - there was no way I was going out there!) and the enthusiastic clinking of glasses (some would say the over-enthusiastic clinking of glasses!) we are slowly getting back to some kind of normality here (and no sniggering thank you!) On New Year's Day, my husband and I were treated by our fabulous children to a three course meal. They planned it, shopped for the ingredients and made it together (with no rows!) while we sat back and enjoyed a film. And then for the 'tada' moment:

It was all absolutely delicious. They'd come up with some fabulous dishes like the hazelnut, pear and rocket salad starter shown above and I particularly appreciated details such as the beautiful table setting.   Some people start 'grateful for' diaries in the new year - and I think it's a great idea to help us focus on the things that are good in our lives; if I kept one of these, my children would loom very large on every page I assure you!


See you tomorrow when I'll have a special gift to show you.

Hugs,

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,

A Postcard to say congratulations

What a great time I've had using Stampin' Up's new Postcard stamp all week! But of all the cards I've made with it, today's gave me the most pleasure because it was made to congratulate a lovely member of my team who recently reached a milestone in her Stampin' Up journey. Come and see what I made for her:

The Postcard stamp makes a lovely frame for a waterside scene. I inked the parts of Postcard image I wanted with a Midnight Muse marker, stamped it, cut it out and sponged in the background. The birds were stamped over the top...

... you can see that better in this photo. TIP: Try inking these birds with markers using one colour for the actual birds and keeping their reflections the same colour as the background. What do you think of the stamped strip at the bottom of the card? It's from Mosaic Madness and I used it because I liked the way it has the same wood-carved feel as Postcard.

Now, you may have noticed the little package in the top photo.

Are you dying to know what's in it?

Oh go on then...

... It's a bracelet - one of my Team Inkredibles charm bracelets to be precise! Members of my team get one of these when they reach their first goal and then for each milestone after that, they receive another of my charms to attach to it.

I would love to be making another of these little gift sets - this time for you! If you'd like to talk to me about joining my friendly team of Inkredibles, contact me via email or give me a ring on 01280 820593, or click here for more information.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
Stamps: Wetlands, Postcard, Delightful Dozen (sentiment)
Ink: Midnight Muse, Soft Sky, Bermuda Bay, So Saffron, Summer Starfruit
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Markers, 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.

And as a special thank you for shopping with me, you'll get a free gift and a handmade card when you place your first online order with me during September.


It's Friday and the weekend starts here! Last weekend my daughter came into the living room wearing a  top covered in shiny sequins. "Sparkles at you!" she said. I smiled at her. "Oooh - look at you!" I said. "Yes," she said. "Je suis un disco ball! I could walk into a room and say 'yay, the party has arrived - everyone can start dancing now!'" Bless her!

Have a great weekend and I'll see you very soon,

Three Minute lavender using Wetlands

It occurred to me the other day that the grassy stamp in Wetlands could become lavender! I had a few minutes spare (in between getting the remaining bits of school uniform and taking my eldest son to the dentist!) so I tried out this idea - on Stampin' Up's canvas for a bit of extra texture. Come and have a look:

The rubber of the stamp was coloured with markers and spritzed before stamping on the canvas. I cut a piece from a sheet of multi-purpose adhesive to attach the canvas to my Naturals Ivory card base.

I actually made this little sentiment label for yesterday's card before realising that it wasn't the best colour for that one, but it works well for this little card. Can you see the scored line on the left of the canvas in this photo? I added that with my Simply Scored tool for an extra bit of interest.

When I linked up yesterday's card to Less is More I worried that perhaps I was only supposed to use one stamp... so this is my second entry!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Wetlands
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Pear Pizzazz, Summer Starfruit markers
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, scrap of very Vanilla card stock
Other: Canvas, square punch, Simply Scored

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593. 

And as a special thank you for shopping with me, you'll receive a gift and handmade card when you place your first online order with me during September.

I never think of myself as being a technophobe or anything but the other day I was fiddling about with my ipod, muttering because I couldn't get something to work. My eldest son sighed, took the gadget from me, pressed a few buttons and handed it back. I giggled. "Honestly, look at me acting like an old lady!" I said, and then: "No wait - I AM an old lady!" and went off into paroxysms of laughter while my son stared at me in surprise.

See you tomorrow,

Serene Silhouettes watercolour style - and great news!

Looking along my stamp shelves the other day, I decided that Serene Silhouettes is a stamp set that I haven't used enough. So when I saw the Less is More challenge this week - use a rubber stamp and optionally a watercolour technique - I thought it would be perfect.  Come and see:

I coloured the rubber of my stamp with markers, spritzed it with water, stamped it onto a panel of watercolour paper and matted the image onto Island Indigo card stock.

The sentiment has been taken from my Wetlands set and cut into a tiny banner shape. TIP: A square punch makes short work of this. I mounted it onto a torn piece of washi tape and added an ordinary staple for decoration.

I thought it would benefit from a little splattering of ink so I used my splatter image from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I find this stamp SO useful - much easier than the retired Color Spritzer or flicking from an aquapainter as you have much more control of where the ink goes!

And the great news? It's the return of my online shop - yay! Now you can order Stampin' Up products any time you like! And to say a big thank you for shopping online with me, there'll be a free gift and a handmade card for anyone placing an order via my online shop during the month of September. Happy shopping!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Wetlands, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink: Island Indigo and Gumball Green markers, So Saffron classic ink
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Watercolour paper, Island Indigo smooth card stock
Other: Gingham Garden washi tape, square punch

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.


This card reminded me of the long summer days but the nights are definitely drawing in now and although it remains warm and sunny I know it won't be long before it'll be jumper weather! Talking of jumpers, my daughter was telling me about her boyfriend's baby sister who, when asked whether she was a big girl or a little girl, replied firmly that she was a kangaroo!

See you tomorrow when I'll be showcasing a quick card for my regular Three Minute Thursday slot.

Hugs,

Simply sketched with a bit of washi

I'm always fascinated by embellishments and how they can change the look of a card and washi tape has to be one of my favourites. Today's card, inspired by Less is More's washi tape challenge this week, shows how washi can give a modern twist to a traditional style of card. Come and see:

I'd been dying to make a scene with this little bird from the Simply Sketched hostess stamp set ever since it arrived in July. The background was made with a bit of quick sponging then the bird image was stamped over the top. TIP: don't forget you can turn the image upside down and stamp the stems too!

To give a bit more depth, I added a few 'grasses' with a light touch of the side of an ink pad, and some more frondy ones with that useful grassy stamp from Wetlands. The bird was coloured with a few strokes of an aquapainter.

The sentiment was heat embossed in white on black card stock to give a ticker-tape feel and the panel was attached to the card base with the gorgeous coral washi tape from the Epic Day set (Stampin' Up washi tape comes in sets of three coordinating tapes.)

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Simply Sketched, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Wetlands
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Baked Brown Sugar
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black
Other: Versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool, Epic Day washi tape, markers, aquapainter
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.

Birds are funny old things aren't they? I could watch them all day. While we were on holiday in Kent we were entertained by this pair of seagulls having a fight over a morsel of food.

They were like a pair of enraged old ladies, screaming and scolding and slapping each other with their wings and they just wouldn't let it go! Of course I know just how I'd feel if someone nicked a spoonful of my ice cream sundae without asking!

See you tomorrow,

Morning Meadow in Regals - and news from Stampin' Up!

One of my favourite card styles at the moment is the front panel with an aperture and you may recognise the layout of today's creation - I made similar ones here and here. Framelits are brilliant for making the apertures and they make it easy to add a frame too, but for speed you can't beat the good old punch! Come and see:

The 2 1/2" circle punch is one of my most-used punches and it makes short work of this style of card. I inked my Morning Meadow flower image up with markers and stamped through a mask before placing the aperture panel over the top. TIP: When punching the aperture panel, layer the card stock with a same-sized piece of thin paper and punch through both together - you can use the thin paper as the mask for stamping/sponging and your image will be in exactly the right place.

The large flower from the Morning Meadow set contrasts beautifully with the smaller one and, once stamped, it punches out so quickly and easily with the new Pansy punch. (The new Stampin' Up catalogue features lots of stamp sets that coordinate with punches or framelits and there's a handy 15% discount when you buy both together.) I centred the flower with the new love of my life - a candy dot. I adore the Stampin' Up ones - they are brilliant quality (and it shows), they come in all the colour families, they're self-adhesive, and they can also be used as a brad by adding to a brad base.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Morning Meadow, Wetlands (sentiment)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant and Garden Green markers
Card stock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight core'dinations
Other:  Pansy and 2 1/2" circle punches, Garden Green candy dot, 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.

STOP PRESS! New releases and a special offer!
1. If you own the Stampin' Trimmer you're likely to be a big fan of its large cutting area, its ability to cut and score a card base in seconds without fiddling about taking blades in and out, its cutting guard that locks into place giving a really accurate straight cut every time, its portability... oh I could go on and on! Well, now you can set that fabulous trimmer can work even harder with the launch of the new Rotary Addition:

You just whisk the cutting guard out of the trimmer and replace it with the Rotary add-on guard, turn the cutting mat and tada! - you have a rotary cutter! There are also several gorgeous decorative blades available including my personal favourite, the perforating cartridge.
You can see the new items on pages 176-177 of the annual catalogue.

2. A new 'Best of' Stamp set has been released! Best of Shelli is the latest in the 25th anniversary celebration series and is available until March 2014. It comes in cling mount only at £13.95.

3.  Why not bag yourself a free pack of designer paper? During the month of August, you'll get a free pack of designer paper when you buy three packs. (This applies to the regular packs not the speciality papers or the stacks.) Check out all the gorgeous designs on pages 151, 153 and 154 of the annual catalogue.

Talking of availability, this will be my last post for a week or two as I make myself more available to my family. Thank you as always for visiting me here and for your support, and I'll be back soon. I'll leave you with the words of my small nephew, who had entertainingly missed the point: "Bye alligator!"

Hugs,

The Wetlands goose pops up

My love affair with the new Wetlands stamp set continues as I squeak in a card in for the gorgeous sketch challenge at CASE this sketch. Unfortunately I forgot that it's supposed to be Three Minute Thursday on my blog today and this card took a bit longer than that - oops! Come and see:

I started by inking up the goose stamp with markers and stamping onto a piece of scrap card stock. After cleaning the stamp I inked up the grass again to make a longer strip as the sketch suggested, then cut the image out with my sharp paper snips. I cut an aperture in the front panel of the card with a large circle punch to lay the goose across.

The Wetlands stamp set comes with a variety of useful sentiments. I chose the birthday one, inking it up with markers before stamping inside the aperture. The 'i' was dotted with a candy dot for a little bit of interest.

I raised the front panel up on dimensionals and so the goose and the centre of the grass had to be too. It's a while since I made a card with a slightly 3D effect and I'd forgotten how much fun it is!


This is the sketch I was working from today (right) and I'll also be linking up to Make My Monday where the challenge is to use stamps that you've never inked up before. My Wetlands set is new and I certainly can't see it doing much languishing in its (beautiful) case!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Wetlands
Ink: Soft Suede, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Gumball Green, Island Indigo in marker form
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Garden Green candy dot, 2 1/2" circle punch, 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.

My teenage daughter has incorporated animal noises to her usual language. For example if I tell her I like her outfit she says thank you and purrs or, if I ask her to do the washing up while she's happily looking at Pinterest she might simply hiss. Sometimes she doesn't actually make the noise but describes it instead ("barks excitedly" or "buzzes angrily"). There is never a dull moment around here!

See you tomorrow,