Time for a celebration!

Hello, crafting friends!

Has anyone else been finding themselves more attracted to bright colours this year? I think I'm subconsciously choosing happiness!

I used Funky Fossil's Splatters stencil to  make the background for this card, sponging bright colours into one of the splatters, moving it around for each colour.

The sentiment banner is from Concorde & 9th's Hello Sunshine turnabout set. I stamped it onto vellum using black Stazon ink, adding a pink sentiment from MFT's Safari Party which I clear-embossed. The banner was carefully cut out and I used a water-based marker to colour the back of it orange. For that celebratory feel, I added sparkly stars made by colouring silver glimmer paper with alcohol markers and using Stampin' Up's Twinkle punch to cut them out.

CHALLENGES

Time Out got me thinking about various festivals and this card was inspired by the Hindu Holi Festival but can be used for any celebration I think. Find out more about Holi here. It's taken me a long time to get round to having a go at Stamplorations' Anything Goes Stencil Challenge, but I finally got there!  

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Never mind a celebration, it would be great to hear some really good news. Do let me know if you have any won't you! In the meantime, I've decided that it's time to cosy up the house with the wintery cushions and throws, and I might even treat myself to a glass of sherry later while watching The Great British Bake Off! It's Patisserie week so there should be some great eye candy!

Sending hugs,

Something to celebrate, using four masks!

Hello, crafting friends!

Does anyone else keep a couple of bottles of fizz in the back of the cupboard in the happyy belief that a celebration is sure to happen soon? Of course you do! My stashed bottles were the inspiration for today's one layer card.

These gorgeous champagne coupes are from Mimosas by Avery Elle and I have used them quite a lot! To make the card, I masked off  the edges of a good thick card base, stamped the glasses in versamark and heat embossed in silver. I made a mask for the glasses by stamping them again on a sticky note and cutting them out. That's two masks - the edges of the card and the glasses.

For my third mask, I used a piece of scrap paper, laying it over the top of the masked glasses and inking in a ground. For the fourth mask, I transferred the scrap paper to the ground, laid Funky Fossil's Folk Floral Wallpaper stencil across the top of the masked glasses and inked into it lightly with rust coloured ink. All the masks were then removed - and I never want to type the word mask again!

I finished the card by colouring the glasses with water-based markers and adding Wink of Stella shimmer. The sentiment was put together with words from the Mimosas set. 

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

So proud to be get Honours at Time Out with this card :)

CHALLENGES

Less is More has a one layer card challenge this fortnight with the theme of Cheers! I'm also joining in a Time Out where there's a fun word challenge: 'Move over Coffee. Today is a day for Champagne!' At Watercooler Wednesday, they're celebrating a five-Wednesday month with an Anything Goes challenge, so I shall link up there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

There's definitely no champagne on the cards here today. Storm Alex has come to batter us with winds and rain and has decided to stay for the weekend. I have spent my day changing in and out of an oilskin and wellies, rubbing Eva down with towels, and muttering "Go home Alex! No one likes you and who invited you anyway?!"

Sending hugs (and here's hoping for something to celebrate soon...!) 

The one layer YAY!!!

Hello crafting friends!

If you have the winter blues today, I've got the very card to cheer you up! Come and see:

This is very CAS and the simplest card ever if you have a stamping platform - and I do thanks to dear old Santa :) To make it, I used the image from Stampin' Up's Enjoy Life that I like to call 'Lady leaping about like a loon!'

To start, I positioned a nice thick card base in the corner of my stamping platform, positioned the lady off the bottom right-hand edge, inked her up with violet ink and stamped. Cleaned off the stamp, moved the card base to the right by 0.75 cm, inked up with purple ink and stamped. Cleaned off the stamp, moved the card base to the right by 0.75 cm, inked up with blue ink... etc. I'm sure you get the picture!

Do you like the sentiment? I love the nice bold font and the curviness of it. It's from an older retired set called Celebrate Today by Stampin' Up. I finished my card with stars cut out of coloured card stock with my useful Twinkle punch.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired to make my card by Perfectly CAS, where this month's challenge is the oft-dreaded One Layer Card; Less is More, where the challenge for the fortnight is also a one layer card and they want the design to be Off Centre; also CASology where the cue card is Repeat; and last, but definitely not least, Just Add Ink, where they are celebrating 10 years of fabulous challenges with a great blog hop!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Yesterday, I greeted my eldest son when he came in from work. "How was your day?" I asked. "It was good," he said hanging up his coat. "But I'm so tired. I feel as if I've been awake all day!" Since my son works in an optician, I sincerely hope he WAS awake all day!!! I suggested an early night and he looked at me as if I had suggested he took up origami.

Thank you for popping in to visit me today.

Hugs,

Don't miss these Stampin' Up offers!

Calling all embossing folder fans! It's a great time for you to add a few gorgeous folders to your collection as Stampin' Up has slashed prices on four of the best!

Here's a simple card I made using the gorgeous Decorative Dots folder - that's my favourite!

Some of the dots have been coloured with Subtles markers for a cute confetti look, and I added one of the new die cut wooden sentiments - aren't these amazing?! I coloured mine with a So Saffron marker.

By the way, the random dots of this folder make excellent snow too for anyone who's thinking about Chri... oops! Almost said it - and in June too *winks*.

THIS WEEK'S WEEKLY DEALS - GO SHOPPING NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

And Many More Clear-Mount Stamp Set £24.00 £18.00	Folder Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.00 £5.25	Banner Banter Clear-Mount Stamp Set £13.00 £9.75	Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.00 £5.25
Early Espresso 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon £6.50 £4.88	Silver Basic Metal Buttons £7.25 £5.44	Tiny Triangles Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.00 £5.25	Zig Zag Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.00 £5.25

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.

Does anyone else muck about with the names of high street shops? My daughter and I always call Dorothy Perkins 'Dotty P' and New Look 'Nouveau Regarder', WH Smith is Bubbly H Smith to my youngest son and a local corner shop called Price Check is affectionately known to us all as Price Fix!

Have a great weekend won't you. I'll be back on Tuesday with more inspiration from the new Stampin' Up catalogue :)

Congratulations with a bang using Kinda Eclectic from Stampin' Up

I've found another way of using Stampin' Up's brilliant new Kinda Eclectic stamp set and it's perfect for celebrations! Come and see:

The sunburst image makes fabulous fireworks when stamped in bright colours. I used Tempting Turquoise, Tangelo Twist and Daffodil Delight for mine and added a dynamic sentiment from Sassy Salutations.

Every celebration needs a bit of extra sparkle so I added some large gems, coloured with blendabilities. (How much do I love my blendabilities, on a scale of one to ten? Eleven!) These large gems are retired now, but the largest ones from the Basic Rhinestone packs would work well too.

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

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic wood or cling, Sassy Salutations wood or cling

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Tangelo Twist, Daffodil Delight, Stazon black.
Blendabilities: Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: 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.

My daughter has the loveliest boyfriend. He recently turned 18 and naturally his thoughts turned to the legal implications of this. "Just think!" he said. "Now I can go and buy fireworks!" Someone laughed. "Never mind fireworks, now you can legally buy alcoholic drinks!" He stared at them. "Drinks don't go bang in the sky!" he said scathingly.

See you tomorrow.

A great big Stampin' Up woohoo!

There's nothing like good news to energise you! I woke up very early this morning still buzzing away because I've been chosen for a place on Stampin' Up's Artisan Design Team! I feel so honoured - there are only 16 places on the team and designers were chosen from Stampin' Up demonstrators all over the world!

Can I also just say how very touched I've been by all the messages of congratulations I've received, not just here on my blog but also on facebook and via email. You are such a lovely and supportive bunch and you've made me feel very special - thank you.

Oh goodness me, let's show you a card before I start having to whisk out the tissues!

There are so many fabulous elements in the stamp set I've used today that I'm bursting with ideas for using it! It's a brand new hostess set from the new Stampin' Up annual catalogue called Hello Love. I stamped the sun, coloured it in with blendabilities and layered clouds and a sentiment over the top.

Don't you just love that it's raining lurve?! And that the sunshine is chasing those dark clouds away!

When you're celebrating great news, the code word Celebrate at ATCAS and Less is More's 'Singing in the Rain' theme are the perfect card challenges! I'm also linking up with the clean and simple challenge at ATSM, The Curtain Call, where 'anything goes' (they're also having a woohoo moment as it's their anniversary - congrats ladies!) and Pixie's Snippets Playground. Oh AND I used a Never Before Used Stamp (NBUS) - yes Darnell, it finally happened!

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

Stamps: Hello Love wood or cling (available free with orders of £150+),
Just Sayin' wood or cling

Ink: Real Red, plus Brights markers,
plus Daffodil Delight blendabilities

Card stock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate

Other: Stamp-a-majig, paper snips

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.

What a great weekend it's been! There's not been much of this...

... but plenty of this:

I could definitely get used to this kind of lifestyle!

I'm going to post this now and then I'll be back on Tuesday. Hope to see you then,

A great big sassy thank you

When Stampin' Up demonstrators get together we certainly know how to have fun - I'm still buzzing from the best convention ever! Inspiration, motivation, freebies, announcements, new products and releases - all these were there in abundance but it's the people I love most about being a part of Stampin' Up. It was fantastic to be there with so many people who share my passion, meeting up with old friends and making new ones. I made a thank you card today because that's how I'm feeling! Come and see:

Does this remind you of a champagne cork popping? Well that's the look I was aiming for! I stamped the swirl from Everything Eleanor in the corner, added a little Gorgeous Grunge, topped it with a sentiment banner and added bling with a liberal hand!

I used Summer Starfruit and Smoky Slate as a modern version of gold and silver and it provides a nice clean background for the sparkly rhinestones and glimmer paper punched stars.

When I was making this card, I was especially thinking of my lovely customers who make it possible for me to make a business out of my passion for stamping; of my friend and upline Michelle who introduced me to Stampin' Up; of each of my team, the Inkredibles, (Lizy, Jan, Jacqueline, Victoria, Helen, Michelle, Sarn, Barbara, Hilary, Laura, Natalie and Ursula, for their fellowship whether in person or via phone or online and without whose hard work I couldn't have achieved my Silver 2 title; my friends in the 'mother group', the Pinkies, because they're great company and an unfailing support. And I'd also like to thank all of you who tell me you read and enjoy my blog - it means a great deal to me that you come and spend your time here.

And to think - once upon a time I didn't have any of this in my life!

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

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Sassy Salutations

Ink: Summer Starfruit, Smoky Slate, Real Red

Card stock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Other: Basic Rhinestones, Merry Minis punch pack, silver glimmer paper, paper snips

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.

I had a fantastic time at Convention but it was lovely to get home too. My youngest son gave me huge hugs and told me he'd missed me. "There was no-one to say mad things," he said in what I'm hoping was a complimentary way. My oldest son had obviously missed me too - I was permitted to sit next to him and watch for a bit while he was gaming on Grand Theft Auto (yes I know, I shuddered too!) "There's some nice scenery," I said. "I know - that's why I play it," said my son. "Why not just try going for a nice walk?" I suggested. He sighed patiently. "I could do," he said. "But it's not the same as going for a drive and seeing it from the comfort of the car you've just stolen!" Oh dear - he has been brought up nicely I promise!

See you tomorrow with some pictures from convention!

3 minute Sale-a-bration celebration!

Sale-a-bration is now in full swing and lots of people are reaping the rewards! I love seeing my customers getting freebies and I also love letting people know that they can buy a starter kit that is worth nearly £300 during Sale-a-bration for only £119 - even if they only ever plan to buy Stampin' Up products for themselves! If you'd like to know more about this then do send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593 - I'm happy to answer all your questions so that you can decide whether it would be right for you.

There are four gorgeous stamp sets offered free during Sale-a-bration (as well as a pack of fabulous designer paper!) and I'm happily exploring the possibilities of Outlined Occasions at the moment. Here's a quick card I came up with for today's Three Minute Thursday:

I stamped a piece of Whisper White card stock with the 'Celebrate' sentiment using Melon Mambo ink then, using my stamp-a-majig, I positioned the 'it's your day!' sentiment so that it overlapped slightly and stamped it in Basic Black ink. 'It's your day!' comes from a hostess set that I'm using all the time at the moment called Happiest of Birthdays. Remember, hostess sets can be bought with hostess pounds  earned with any order over £150 - and you'd get three free Sale-a-bration items on top of that!

The panel is mounted on a Melon Mambo panel before attaching to the Crumb Cake card base and a die-cut butterfly added for a bit of pizzazz! Mine is from the Beautiful Wings embosslits die and I have them ready-cut in lots of colours in a little jar because they're one of my favourite embellishments!

The Basic Rhinestones come in sheets of different sizes which includes three linked chains which are very quick and easy to attach in a straight line.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Outlined Occasions (free Sale-a-bration set), Happiest of Birthdays (hostess set)

Ink: Melon Mambo, Basic Black

Card stock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake

Other: Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Basic Rhinestones, dimensionals, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these supplies for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I am committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to help and advise. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

Click here to see all the free Sale-a-bration sets and don't forget to let me know which ones you'd like - remember, you get one free item for EVERY £45 spent!

It's still very icy here and I've been walking to the school gates with my youngest son to make sure he doesn't break any limbs. He finds this escort rather irksome as he is a very independent young man and this morning he suggested I stay in the car - he'd be fine he said firmly. I agreed to let him go by himself and delivered my lecture about traffic and slippery roads and pavements and the importance of taking it slowly and carefully. After this he bid me a cheerful goodbye and I watched while he set off at full pelt up the pavement, skittering and skidding as he went and narrowly missing several turning cars. Aaaaargh!

I think I need to go and warm up with a nice cup of coffee now but I'll be back tomorrow with one of my favourite colour combinations at the moment. Hope to see you then,