(Don't) let it snow!

Hello crafting friends!

I know it's not Christmas again for another few months (!) but you know, while it's so wintery outside, and you have your things out, and an idea pops into your head, it just seems like a good idea to make a quick festive card! Come and see:

My distress inks have turned up and I LOVE them to bits! Here, I inked up the top third of my card panel in Tumbled Glass using a piece of sponge and let it fade out.

I made a tag from an snippet of white card stock and stamped a sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks Christmas three times with the aid of my stamp positioner. I love how the red ink pops with the blue and white :) The top of the tag was pierced with a pokey tool and I sewed some cotton thread through it and secured the ends at the back.

The final touch is the die cut snowflakes. Aren't they beautiful? So delicate! They were on a stunning Christmas card I received from my friend and Stampin' Up demo Jan Malcolm, and I carefully removed them so I could re-use them. If they had been from one die or a punch, I'd have bought them like a shot, but they're from two large die sets Christmas Layers (still available) and Frosted Frames (discontinued) so I shall have to continue my perfect snowflake search!

CHALLENGES
I shall be linking this card up with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, where there is a beautiful sketch that has been calling me; also Just Us Girls, where the theme is Snowflakes; and last but not least, CAS Christmas, where the challenge is to use a tag on a Christmas card.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Snow IS lovely isn't it. On a card. Or out of a window. Eva doesn't agree - she is dead keen on snow and likes to be as close as possible to it!

Here she is having a rootle around in some, in a photo taken a couple of years ago :)

What do you think? Do you already have loads of snow? Are you hoping for some? Or would you rather not?

Hugs,

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Hello crafting friends!

I think I've made enough Christmas cards now but you can't have too many can you? And anyway, card challenges keep pinging into my inbox and I can't resist joining in! So, anyone for a little snow...?

I fell in love with this little Altenew Snowman and he was SUCH a bargain, and I didn't have any snowmen in my stash (can you believe that?!!), and I loved the sentiment, so he hopped into my shopping basket!

The card started life as a card base and panel cut out of kraft card stock. I stamped the snowman onto the panel using white craft ink, then stamped a tree from Stampin' Up's White Christmas in black ink right next to him. Then came the pens! With a black fineliner, I elongated the trunk of the tree and added detail to the arms of the snowman; a white gel pen came in handy for sketching in a snowy ground, piling up snow on the branches of the tree and making it snow in the background; and a silver Stampin' Sparkle gave the tree trunk, the snowman's arms and the snow a silvery shimmer.

I stamped the snowman again, using pale blue ink on white card stock, and fussy cut him. His hat and scarf were coloured with a pale blue marker (I don't have Seaside Spray but this was close) and details added with my fineliner, and then I glued him over the snowman on the panel. The card was finished with a sentiment (to warm things up a bit!) and a pierced frame before attaching the panel to the card base.

CHALLENGES
I used this week's great sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for this card and the colour palette at The Paper Players which has been playing on my mind ever since Sunday!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Making this card made me feel quite wistful for snow! It rained all day yesterday and the dogs and I got drenched. Today, we found the river has burst its banks again.

How about you? Are you ready for snow? Or does the very thought of it make you lock all the doors and crank the heating up?! Let me know won't you :)

Hugs,

Heartwarming valentine with Sheltering Tree from Stampin' Up

I'm spreading more love today with another stamp set I adore from the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue, Sheltering Tree. It just goes to show you can make an 'I love you' kind of card from all sorts of stamp sets! Come and see:

Sticky notes were used here to mask off two sides of a square. I sponged Blushing Bride ink in the area, letting the ink fade out gradually on the unmasked sides of the 'square'. While the mask was still in place, I stamped the tree from Sheltering Sky, first in Smoky Slate and then again in Basic Grey, adding a bit of detail with a Smoky Slate marker.

The sentiment is so lovely isn't it?! It was stamped in Basic Grey and sequins from the In Colour Sequin Assortment scattered over the panel. I mounted the panel on a piece of Blushing Bride card stock and framed it with piercing - so easy to do with the Essentials piercing templates, tool and mat.

The inspiration for this card came from Less is More which is celebrating its fourth birthday this week with a Pink and Grey colour challenge. I'm a huge fan of Less is More which is home to the friendliest bunch of crafters in the world! Sending birthday mwahs to founders Chrissie and Mandi and all the design team past and present that have made Less is More such a great challenge :)

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride £6.25	Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack £7.25	2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment £4.50

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.

I haven't shared any of my husband's hilarities recently have I? How about this one, while my youngest son and I were watching television:
OH: He's always on telly isn't he!
Me: Who is?
OH: Graham Cumberbatch.
Me: Graham Cumberbatch?
OH: It's not Graham is it? Er... Mark? No - Jimmy Cumberbatch!
Me: Oops, my sides have split!

See you tomorrow,

New baby card using the free Simply Wonderful stamp set from Stampin' Up

The Little Ones challenge at Less is More this week gave me the perfect opportunity to use the tiny flower in Stampin' Up's free Sale-a-bration set Simply Wonderful (click here to find out how to get your hands on it!) Come and see:

I thought this card fit the challenge on many levels - it's for a little one, I used a little stamp and it features a little panel in acres of white space (well, Very Vanilla actually!) 

I adore this sweet flower with its curls and think it's perfect for a baby card. I teamed it with a greeting from the Something to Say stamp set, punched it out with the Decorative Label punch and added some decorative piercing courtesy of a template from the Essentials Piercing Pack.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Simply Wonderful Wood Stamp Set £0.00	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers £23.95	Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set £19.95
Decorative Label Punch £15.50	Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack £7.25	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95

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.

Snow has arrived here in the heart of England and a cute little someone from our household enjoyed it no end!

The grass had been cut on the field behind our house yesterday and Eva spent an rip-roaring half hour burrowing in the snow for clumps of it, throwing them up into the air and chasing them about like a loon!

There'll be another Artisan Blog Hop going on here tomorrow. It's a new month so we've been crafting with new goodies - don't miss it!

A little bird with Moon Lake from Stampin' Up

Living here in the heart of England, I'm lucky enough to be able to step out of my door into glorious countryside and I'm always attracted to stamps with a nature theme - like Moon Lake from the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue. Here's a note card made with the cute little bird from the set:

I sponged a background using a mask cut with the 2 1/2" circle punch before stamping this beautiful image.

It was fun to colour using the Stampin' Write markers!

A simple embellishment can really lift a card. I gave this one a double row of pierced holes using one of the Essentials piercing templates, then added a paper clip tied up with the new Painted Blooms twine (you get three spools in the pack and this one is gorgeous Wild Wasabi.) 

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Moon Lake Wood Stamp Set £23.95

Subtles Stampin' Write Markers £23.95

Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack £7.25

Painted Blooms Cotton Twine £6.25

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.

Sometimes it feels as if I'm feeding animals all day! We have lots of blue tits, sparrows, robins, and other small birds visiting the feeder in the garden and I seem to have cats and dogs queuing up for meals all day! The cat seems to wait until the busiest moments and then turns up in the hallway just like the guy who never gets his drinks order in Fawlty Towers!



Thanks for visiting today. See you tomorrow,

A happy doggy birthday with Stampin' Up daubers

I love surprises, don't you? It was a friend's birthday on Wednesday and her lovely husband took her to beautiful Stowe Gardens for a walk with the dogs, then to lunch afterwards where he'd arranged for us to turn up unexpectedly! Naturally I brought along a little something for her - come and see:

Do you think this is the sort of card your dog might make you if he was allowed to rummage through your crafting stash? Er, no, I'm not about to find out if this is true either!

The paw print was made with Baked Brown Sugar ink and a sponge dauber - three daubs joined together for the pad and four single daubs for the toes. So easy to do! I pierced a frame around the panel and added a decorative strip of designer paper with some rhinestones for a touch of birthday sparkle!

I used the same paper to make a paper bow for my friend's present using Stampin' Up's Gift Bow Bigz die. My daughter made me get this die, so that she could decorate all her girlfriends' presents with paper bows, and I'm so glad she did - I love it! Change the colour to festive red and you have a perfect Christmas gift wrapping idea!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS PROJECT NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Brights Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack £19.50	Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments £4.50	Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack £7.25	Gift Bow Bigz L Die £28.95
Festive Designer Kraft Paper Rolls £8.95	Sponge Daubers £4.50	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95

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.

Of course there is an alternative way of making today's card...

Take one small puppy, a muddy garden and some card stock. Mix well.

Have a wonderful weekend won't you. Unfortunately all the humans in our house have gone down with a tummy bug, so Eva and Tuppence will be looking after us I think! Hopefully I'll be back on Monday - see you then,