Oh Hello at Halloween!

The summer is over; there's an autumn chill in the air; Christmas seems a long way off... what are you going to do? Have a party of course - that would cheer everyone up! And with Halloween just round the corner, you have a ready-made theme! All that's needed now is an invitation - like this one:

This amazing paper from the Witches Brew pack takes all the effort out of creating a bit of atmosphere...

... you wouldn't want these blood suckers getting tangled up in your hair - aaaaaargh!

I thought the gothic shape of the 'you're invited' label was appropriate - I cut it with framelits using my fabulous magnetic platform (highly recommended!), added some gems for drama and stapled a strip of striped paper and a banner over it for a touch of colour.

I thought the inside could say something like: Come over for a quick bite - you can be sure the claret will flow... mwah ha ha ha ha!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Oh Hello
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit
Other: Witches Brew designer paper, Apothecary Accents framelits, Big Shot, Basic Rhinestones, 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.


My husband was nearly killed by bats once... well perhaps that's overstating it slightly! We were on holiday in a house with an ancient tower. The tower was blocked off from the house but you could get in through an ivy-covered arched door outside and climb its ancient, stone stairs. My husband, who isn't much given to flights of fancy, decided to see the view from the top one evening while out on a solitary walk. Here's the photo he took of the place:

I mean, would you have climbed the tower? He said afterwards that he did feel a bit spooked by it but told himself to pull himself together and set off up the steep stairs. As he climbed, all senses began to jangle until somewhere near the top there was a rustling noise and several bats swooped past his cheek nearly giving him a heart attack! He said the journey down the stairs took a fraction of the time it had taken to go up!

See you tomorrow for more spooky nonsense,

Party This Way!

I've been so excited about the thought of today's card ever since I saw the CASual Fridays challenge last Friday. The ladies over there are in Mardi Gras mood and are asking for clean and simple party cards using ribbon. Well today I'm in a party mood because I finally managed to take the idea out of my head and turn it into a card! Come and have a look:

Tying ribbons onto the tail of a kite is what I wanted to do! I started by sponging a background of cloudy sky using Pool Party ink and a mask made with different sized circles glued together, then attached it to a Pool Party card base - yes, even my choice of colour has a party theme!

The kite is made from designer papers from the Everyday Enchantment pack that's free as part of the current Sale-a-bration promotion. It was fun mixing up the patterns! I stuck my paper kite onto a couple of pieces of card stock glued together to give it a good solid chipboard feel.

The kite's tail is drawn with the fine end of a Crumb Cake market and then gone over with a dashed line for a bit of texture. The ribbon is the fabulous 1/8" taffeta ribbon, tied into little knots and attached with glue dots.

The sentiment usually says 'party this way' but I used a marker to take the word 'party', stamped it and doodled the word 'let's' and the exclamation mark. Purists will immediately notice the lack of the apostrophe in the word 'let's' so you'll be pleased to know that I have now added it!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Party This Way

Ink: Pool Party

Card stock: Pool Party, Whisper White

Other: Markers, circle punches to create clouds, 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Real Red, Marina Mist and Certainly Celery, Everyday Enchantment designer paper (sale-a-bration freebie), 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!

Of course we're in Mardi Gras mood over here too - it's Pancake Day! We don't eat pancakes at any other time of the year in our family and it makes them so special on this day. This evening we'll all gather round in the kitchen and I will produce a large pile of pancakes which we'll eat sprinkled with lime juice and sugar! My husband works with a lovely man in Louisiana who sent us over a box filled with gloriously coloured Mardi Gras beads one year, and we like to wear those while eating our pancakes!

Happy Shrove Tuesday to you too!

Party invitation - using a cocktail of stamps!

Am I the only one who was completely stumped by this week's Less is More challenge? The theme is  'cocktail' and Chrissie and Mandi are inviting us to think laterally and use our imaginations... Hmm, I think I'd have needed more sleep for that! I did think of fruit cocktail but since I sold my retired Tart and Tangy set last week I'm running a bit short on fruit! I have had a delivery of scrumptious new stamps though, so I decided to make a cocktail glass out of some of the spare rubber! Come and see the result:

It was quite hard to get a decent photo with all this white space but I hope you can see the general idea! I snipped a simple glass shape out of the rubber, inked it up with Baja Breeze ink, added a bit of River Rock marker for the cocktail inside and stamped it off on scrap paper before stamping onto my card front. Let's have a closer look:

The cocktail stirrer was drawn using the thin end of my River Rock marker and a ruler and I added a glacé cherry cut out with the large hole punch on my cropadile and highlighted with my white gel pen. I stamped the word 'party' and added an exclamation mark and some streamers. these were all from different sets so it turns out I've used a cocktail of stamps as well!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Party This Way, Perfect Punches, Jolly Jingles wheel (exclamation mark), (cocktail glass cut out of spare rubber)

Ink: Baja Breeze, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, River Rock

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Stamp-a-majig, cropadile hole punch, white gel pen, River Rock marker

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. 

I hope you're having a lovely weekend. I'm being tormented by the fair which has come to Buckingham today! My oldest son, who had loftily told the others he wasn't going as it was "a total waste of money", crumbled under peer pressure and has just set off with a group of friends. He was followed by my daughter with a separate group of friends and I'm sure they'll be studiously ignoring each other for the next couple of hours! My youngest son got to spend some time there this afternoon with his friends while their mums and I had a more much civilised time in a café!

I'm curious to see what you've all come up with for today's LiM challenge so I'll be popping over to see you soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,