Serene Silhouettes on a coloured background

There are loads of things to show you from the Stampin' Up event last weekend but then I spotted some challenges on line and couldn't stop myself from joining in! Using a coloured card base is the order of the day at Less is More and there's the most gorgeous inspiration photo at Make My Monday so I put the two together to come up with this little number:

A Summer Starfruit card base (zing, zing, zing!) with a black image from Stampin' Up's Serene Silhouettes set stamped on a piece of designer paper and attached, bordered with piercing and finished with my favourite sentiment... Er okay, hands up everyone that's saying 'hang on a sec - it's one layer week at Less is More!' OH MAN! If I do this one more time, it's curtains for Crafting Clare! Let's start again shall we:

So, a Summer Starfruit card base, stamped in versamark with a gorgeous image from Serene Silhouettes...

... embossed with black embossing powder, bordered with piercing and finished with gems and my favourite sentiment from A Word For You! I also coloured the butterfly in with a Summer Starfruit

marker to make it stand out from the flowers. Do you know, I think Less is More one layer weeks can single-handedly take credit for my extra stash of cards!

Here's the gorgeous inspiration photo from Make My Monday... I think I'm going to have to make another one using the pink as it really does look gorgeous on this book!

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, A Word For You
Ink: Black stazon
Card stock: Summer Starfruit, Whisper White (to line the inside)
Other: Essentials paper-piercing pack and tool, versamark, Black embossing powder, heat tool, Summer Starfruit marker, Basic Rhinestones, corner rounder, 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

My daughter came home from school yesterday and was miaowed at in a loud, hollow voice by the cat. "Tuppence!" exclaimed my daughter. "Act your species! You're a cat not a trombone!" This is obviously one of a series as last week she said: "Tuppence - act your species! You're a cat not a squeaker toy!" That animal has a surprising repertoire of miaows! (And when I say animal I am, of course, referring to Tuppence not my lovely daughter!)

I'll be back tomorrow with more news from Telford. See you then!

Finding the grass in Love and Sympathy

I have the loveliest people in my team, the Inkredibles. They come from various locations in the UK and, since I am readily contactable by email and phone, I've been able to help those that wanted to build businesses as well as keep in touch with those that enjoy Stampin' Up as a hobby. It works brilliantly for us but every now and again it's good to actually meet up - and what better place to meet than the Stampin' Up Regionals tomorrow! It's a fun demonstrator-only event and I'm so excited to be getting together with some of my downline as well as many other friends from Stampin' Up.

The next big event will be the Stampin' Up Convention in November and if you'd like to be there too, why not consider joining Stampin' Up yourself? There'll be an extra £25 worth of goodies in your starter kit if you join this month! You can read about joining my team here, or I'd be happy to chat about it with you over the phone (01280 820593) so that you can work out whether or not it would be right for you.

Now, onto some stamping: Yesterday, I suggested using markers to get grass only from the image in Love and Sympathy. Well, having mentioned it, I had to try it out didn't I?! Come and see:

Oh I do love a spot of sponging! This panel was roughly sponged with So Saffron ink first, then the bottom third with Wild Wasabi, and lastly a little Island Indigo very lightly in the sky region. The background was ready for its grass!

Here's a close-up of that. It's very quick and easy to ink up the rubber with the brush end of Stampin' Up's markers and by stamping several times without re-inking, you get quite a lot of depth to your stamped image. Once I'd done the longer fronds, I tapped the bottom of the grassy stems into an inkpad and added those to my panel in the same way. I like the hazy light effect you get with these backgrounds and you can emphasise that by sponging round the edges of your grass with darker ink - I chose Garden Green.

And to finish - what better than my favourite sentiment and a rainbow of die-cut butterflies! No I didn't fussy-cut them this time as it was raining in the garden and anyway, I need to prepare for tomorrow!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Love and Sympathy, A Word For You
Ink: So Saffron, Island Indigo, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green, Garden Green
Card stock: Whisper White, Very Vanilla
Other: Markers, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, 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 was issuing instructions to the children last night about what needed doing while I was away. "Wait," said my eldest son. "Where are you going?" I sighed. I have been talking about the Stampin' Up event in Telford all week and only now does it register on my son's radar! It transpires that he'd thought I was talking about one of the maths teachers at his school who shares a name with the town. "Yes, that's right," said my daughter sarcastically. "She's spending the day in Mrs Telford's maths cupboard!"

Well, I'd better go and get myself packed - mustn't forget my camera! I'll be back very soon, hopefully with some fab pictures! See you then,

Fabulous Florets colour explosion!

I was delighted with to see the colour challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More as it was just the combination required for the birthday of one of my friends - she has a wonderful sense of colour and isn't at all afraid of intense hues like these! I was also inspired by the fabulous sketch over at Seize The Birthday (LOVE the revamp ladies!) Come and see what I've made:

There's plenty of dimension in this card with the popped up split panel revealing the gorgeous Pacific Point polka dots behind, and the zingy Melon Mambo flower, all layered up and finished with a pop of Pumpkin Pie button!

I love the way Stampin' Up supplies embellishments in its gorgeous colours although I could have done with some delicious Melon Mambo bakers twine here... Never mind! shaving the edge off some Melon Membo card stock with my trimmer did the trick and it threads through the button like a dream!

Hmmm. You may have noticed how obsessed with this sentiment I am! It really isn't too difficult to fussy cut (it can't be otherwise I wouldn't keep doing it!) and I love the sense of movement it gives to a design. Well, that's the card done - but wait, there's just one more detail to add...

...this card was crying out for a coordinating envelope! No problem - envelopes are a doddle with the diagonal plate that fits neatly into my Simply Scored tool!

These are the challenges I've been working from today:


Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, A Word For You
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Pacific Point paper from Patterns designer paper stack in Brights, Pumpkin Pie button from Brights designer buttons, corner rounder, 1 1/4" 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.
• 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

While we've been gearing up for a hot bank holiday Monday today, spare a thought for my daughter who has been working hard this weekend waitressing at a hotel. On Friday night she got in late and I asked her how it had gone. "Fine!" she replied. "Some old people were getting married!" I smiled. "How old were they?" I asked. "I suppose they were about my age!" (I turned 50 last year.) She shook her head. "Oh no, they were younger than you!" she said. The wicked child was just pulling my leg and it turned out that the happy couple were in their 70s. How lovely for them to find romance later on in life - may they have many happy years together!

See you tomorrow for something rather trendy (just to show there's a bit of a spark left in the old girl yet!)

Button Buddy backgrounds

I did look at the Less is More site bright and early this morning but my husband decided it was time to buy himself some shorts (just in case summer should arrive at any stage) and I offered to help. So it was quite a few hours later that I settled down to have a think about today's colour wheel challenge and this is what I came up with:

Having chosen a blue/green and red/orange colour combination I thought I'd use the cool colour for a bit of a textured background and add pops of the red as an accent.

The background squares were cut, stamped, sponged and swiped with an ink pad. They were then mounted onto a piece of Real Red card stock which in turn was mounted into a frame scored with my Simply Scored board. I added some punched flowers, decorated with brads, the vase...

... and a fussy cut sentiment for balance. The thing that entertained me most about making this card was that the stamp set I used for these backgrounds was the most unlikely set ever - Button Buddies! It is the Bilbo Baggins of background stamps!
• If you'd like to know more about the backgrounds, there are more details on my facebook page - do pop over and check it out and perhaps give it a 'like' while you're there. There'll be a give away at the end of this month so it's definitely worth keeping in touch!

Here's  the colour wheel Chrissie and Jen have provided for our inspiration:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Button Buddies, A Word For You (sentiment)
Ink: Island Indigo, Real Red
Card stock: Whisper White, Real Red
Other: Simply Scored, 1 1/4" square punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Real Red brads, paper snips
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

You'll be glad to know that we managed to get my husband kitted out for the summer and a certain pair of bargain sandals from TK Max managed to come home with me too - so it's perfectly possible we'll never see the sun again and it will all be our fault! 

If you're in the UK, enjoy the May bank holiday and I'll see you soon,

Fruit and Flowers for a birthday

Look at me go today: first of all, I've managed to get my Facebook page up and running - and about time too I hear you say! I'd love it if you'd pop over and 'like' it. And second, I've come over all girlie and pink! It's all down to Dynamics Duos who have dug me out of my comfort zone with their latest colour challenge, Calypso Coral and Blushing Bride, with a little help from the ladies at Less is More who provided the fabulous sketch. Come and see:

The curved-cornered panel as been stamped with a design using Stampin' Up's Fruit and Flowers stamp set. When thinking about the sentiment banner I noticed that this beautiful hand-writing-style sentiment overlapped the panel and would work on its own for the sketch, so I stamped it first on the white layer and then, lining it up with my stamp-a-majig, on the floral panel.

It was quite hard to take a photo of that but this one gives you the general idea! When stamping a background like this, I like to add definition with the matching markers. I don't know if you can see but I added a shadow to the coral flowers using my Blushing Bride marker and darkened the side of the centres with the Calypso Coral pen before adding the pearls. It really does help the flowers to pop!

Here are the challenges I've been working from today:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Fruit and Flowers, A Word For You
Ink: Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White, Calypso Coral
Other: Markers, Basic Pearls, corner rounder, 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

My daughter is deep into exams and driving lessons but is gamely trying to keep up with her chores. "That reminds me," she said guiltily at the weekend. "I must tidy up my habitación!" (She came over all Spanish at the end - something she often does as she seems to think language is best in 'pic 'n' mix' form!) "I know what that means!" said my youngest son smugly. "Know what what means?" said my daughter. "Tidy?!" For the record, I am the only member of this household that knows what 'tidy' means!

I have got something REALLY exciting to show you tomorrow and I can barely contain myself, so do come back and see!

By the Tide with scored waves

Stampin' Up's spring/summer catalogue is full of gorgeous things but my favourites are the By the Tide stamp set which is making me so happy and my Borders score board which is great fun too. Here's a masculine card I made with the fish from the stamp set and some great texture courtesy of the scoreboard:

The fish were stamped on the Crumb Cake panel and coloured with markers from the Subtles collection. I added the sentiment and turned the panel over to score it. There are two sizes of 'waves' on the scoreboard and I love the stylised wave effect they give.

Let's zoom in and get up close and personal with the fish - aren't they wonderful?!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: By the Tide, A Word For You
Ink: Black stazon
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Crumb Cake
Other: Markers, Simply Scored, Borders score plate, stamp-a-majig
I'D BE DELIGHTED TO 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, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

My daughter often comes home with stories about her boyfriend's baby sister who has recently become enthralled with dogs. Whenever the little girl sees a mutt, she points enthusiastically and cries "Dog!" She has received much praise for this accomplishment and it appears to have gone to her head. On a recent visit to proud owners of a tropical fish tank, she watched the creatures swimming about in their watery world for a few minutes before turning to her family. "Dog!" she said.

See you tomorrow for more crafting fun!

Is it a gull, is it a teal?

I wasn't intending to use Fine Feathers for the rest of the week but as usual I've got carried away so guess what stamp set I've used for my regular Three Minute Thursday slot today? You're right - Fine Feathers! It's something a little bit different and I've discovered how much fun it is to design with feathers! I chose to use the fabulous colours at Dynamic Duos for this card - come and see how it turned out:

I've cheated a little with this card - the main panel took me three minutes but since cutting the card stock doesn't take much longer it's still a very quick card.

The design relies on a group of three, strong horizontals and the shadow underneath each feather which makes them pop. I stamped the feathers in Island Indigo ink, using a stamp-a-majig to get them where I wanted them, and coloured them with a Pool Party marker. I used long strokes making sure the spines of the feathers were left uncoloured and, underneath each spine, I built up the colour using the same marker - can you see how much darker it is? Finally the shadows were marked in with a Sahara Sand Watercolour Wonder crayon - I love the natural effect this gives.

This gorgeous sentiment from A Word For You has a good horizontal feel to it too and, for a bit of extra pizzazz, I added a quick touch of glitter. I have no idea what kind of gull would be shedding these aqua, glittery feathers but I expect the rest of the gulls would be scandalised!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Fine Feathers, A Word for You
Ink: Island Indigo
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Island Indigo
Other: Pool Party marker, Neutrals Watercolour Wonder crayons, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, stamp-a-majig
I'D BE DELIGHTED TO 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, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

When our children were very young, we used to take annual holidays on Norfolk's beautiful north coast where there are many bird reserves, and took to bird watching in a very amateur way. I remember one day out, involving a walk to a birdwatching hide, which didn't go too well until it dawned on me that my youngest son had mistaken the word 'hide' for 'hive'...

Good gracious, it's Friday already tomorrow - how did that happen?! See you tomorrow,

A Fine Feathers gift set

All my children went back to school yesterday leaving me to get the house back into some kind of order. Now, I don't want you to picture a scene of devastation or anything but I got so carried away with my domestic fervour that I didn't get the chance to make anything for my blog - not like me at all! Instead I'm showing you a gift set I made for a lovely friend of mine before Christmas. Come and have a look:

Here's the card, stamped with images from Stampin' Up's stunning Fine Feathers stamp set. It's very clean and simple and the Scandinavian-inspired colours were perfect for my friend.

I love the different styles of feather in the set - and they make a great motif for male cards too. The 'happy birthday' is from my favourite sentiment set, A Word For You. Of course I had a little gift for my friends' birthday so I stamped the feathers in a border design on a plain white gift bag...

... and tied a coordinating gift tag to it using grosgrain ribbon and seam binding to match my feathers.

When I'd stamped the tag, I cut it out using one of the Labels framelits which makes an interestingly-shaped tag.

Here's a close-up of the feathery border and the tag. Doesn't the ribbon look pretty?! I know it will have been carefully saved for another crafty project!
Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Fine Feathers, A Word for You
Ink: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Labels framelits, Big Shot, Handheld circle punch, Baja Breeze seam binding, Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon (retired), stamp-a-majig
I'D BE DELIGHTED TO 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, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

I don't get fits of housewifely zeal very often (!) so I have to make the most of it when I do.  I think this is partly because when I've finished scrubbing the kitchen floor, my sons are apt to run over it in muddy trainers asking if there are any sausage rolls to keep their strength up; when I've hoovered every crevice of the living room, my husband takes it upon himself to drill holes in the wall to put up the shelves I asked for two years ago; and when I've deep-cleaned the bathroom, my daughter drifts in with blue hair dye casually mentioning that she's transforming herself into a sea witch for a fancy dress party... Well okay, some of this may be my imagination working overtime, but you get my point!

See you tomorrow for something bright and beautiful (I hope!)

Welcome to my Stampin' Up team!

My children are delighted to be breaking up for the school half term holidays today and I'm happy too because it means I'll get to see more of them. I'm so lucky to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator - not only do I get to work in the crafting industry but I choose my own hours too! It's hard to imagine an employer being okay with me saying:  "Actually I don't fancy coming in to work next week - my children are off school and I'd like to spend some time with them!"

If flexible working appeals to you, why not join Stampin' Up yourself? A starter kit costs only £99 and, during the current Sale-a-bration promotion until 22nd March, you'll get to choose an incredible £162.50 worth of products to put in it! Do contact me if you'd like to know more - I'll be happy to answer all your questions so that you can decide whether it might work for you.

Whenever anyone joins my team I send a little pack to welcome them. It contains a gift and card from me as well as one or two items to help them with setting up their business. Today's card was made for a lovely lady who recently joined my team. Come and see:

I've used the wonderful Madison Avenue stamp set (get it for free during Sale-a-bration!) for the flowers and decorated them with buttons made with my Sweet Buttons embosslits die. Can you see how the buttons have been 'threaded' with the fine end of a marker?

Once the leaves were stamped, I cut them out with my indispensable 2 1/2" circle punch to make a focal point for the card. A little Marina Mist sponging round the edges gives the illusion of sky.

The fabulous banner is from the Itty Bitty Banner set - also available as a Sale-a-bration freebie. I coloured just the border of this one with a marker and added a different sentiment using my stamp-a-majig to get it positioned accurately. The 'you' was cut out with my sharp paper snips - this is much easier than you may think and I love the effect.

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

Stamps: Madison Avenue, Itty Bitty Banners (Sale-a-bration freebies), A Word for You

Ink: Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Marina Mist

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, scraps of Primrose Petals, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit

Other: Sweet Buttons embosslits die, Big Shot, 2 1/2" circle punch, markers, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

I'D BE DELIGHTED TO ORDER YOUR 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, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.

• DON'T FORGET TO ADD ONE OF THESE FREE SALE-A-BRATION ITEMS FOR EVERY £45 YOU SPEND

Well, another Valentines Day celebration has gone by. Before my daughter went away, I was trying to explain to her why this time of year is one of the busiest for purveyors of lingerie. My youngest son overheard this conversation and was moved to join in. "If I was a girl," he said stoutly, "and my boyfriend bought me a pair of pants, I would not be happy!" So there we have it then!

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

Bloomin' Marvellous letterbox-style

Sale-a-bration will go live tomorrow and I'm really excited! I love being a Stampin' Up demonstrator and I love it even more when I get to tell my customers that they're entitled to choose free items with their orders! If you've not been involved in this promotion before here's how it works:

• IF YOU'RE SHOPPING: YOU GET A FREE ITEM WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND - and there are so many fabulous goodies to choose from this year... All will be revealed here tomorrow!

• IF YOU WANT TO JOIN STAMPIN' UP: YOU GET 25% EXTRA IN YOUR STARTER KIT - that's £162.50 worth of products for only £99. If you want to make some money out of your stamping passion, this is a fantastic, no-risk way to do it. (If you want to join to get your own supplies at a discount that's fine too!)

Do EMAIL ME if you'd like more information about the Sale-a-bration offers.

Now, onto today's card: I've used my favourite Sale-a-bration free stamp set to make a card for the wonderful Inkspirational challenge, where the inspiration is this card designed by the lovely and talented Victoria Jeffries. I used the gorgeous colour scheme at CAS Colours and Sketches, which has long been a favourite combination of mine. Come and have a look:

I love this letterbox design! Victoria's card featured a divided card stock panel revealing the beautiful stamping behind, but I've gone with an aperture punched out with my large square punch. I gave the aperture a neat finish by scoring a frame round it using my Simply Scored tool.

I stamped my floral design onto some polka dot paper from the Patterns designer stack and added definition with markers. Such prettiness called out for some sparkle, so I added a touch of Dazzling diamonds glitter.

I wanted a sentiment with lots of movement and my favourite A Word For You sentiment set certainly fits the bill with its lovely flourishes. The 'hand-written' style words are surprisingly easy to cut out with sharp paper snips and I liked the way this one looked overlapping the floral panel.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Bloomin' Marvellous, A Word For You
Ink: Melon Mambo, Old Olive
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Markers, Pretty in Pink designer paper from Patterns stack, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Simply Scored, 1 3/8" square punch, corner rounder
I'd be delighted to order any of these 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, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

When my youngest son saw this card he told me it reminded him of a science experiment they'd been doing at school. I was not flattered! However, he went on to explain that they'd put perfume in the bottom of two divided test tubes, put air in the top of one and a vacuum in the top of the other and tested which would fill with the perfume most rapidly (for those that are interested, it's the one with the vacuum as there's nothing to slow the perfume down.) My card, my son said, was how he imagined the perfume should have looked in the test tube - he's more of a poet than a scientist, bless him!

As I write this, the snow is falling heavily here again. Take care and keep warm,

Giving Horse Frontier a bit more exercise

If you're a regular reader of my blog you won't be surprised to hear that I forgot about the one layer element of the Less is More challenge on Saturday. No it isn't the first time (hangs head and shuffles about with feet) but I'm trying to make up for my banana-headedness with today's card. The challenge is to make a One Layer Card (yes, Vicky, ONE layer!) along the theme of Sports or Exercise. Come and have a look at my second try:

I've used my lovely horse from Horse Frontier again because riding is a sport (isn't it?!) and apparently it's excellent exercise for your derriere and thighs too! I stamped the horse into a mask made with my 2 1/2" circle punch and sponged a sky-ish background. I went a bit mask-tastic and made a mask for the horse too so that I could add a bit of hedge!

The horse was coloured with markers and a sentiment stamped over the image. Are you wondering if burglars have broken in and stolen all my other stamp sets?! I have got a bit carried away with these sets over the last few days haven't I - but I love the horse and the sentiment set too and so I've given myself free rein with them (oops, did you see what I did there?!)

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Horse Frontier, Serene Silhouettes, A Word For You
Ink: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: 2 1/2" circle punch, Early Espresso marker, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these 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, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

• There's only one place left for my Stampers 6 club starting in February. Do let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to join in - you'll get a free spring/summer catalogue, the opportunity to earn Sale-a-bration freebies as well as getting at least £25 of free items from the catalogue - all for placing an order of £25 or more for six months!

I went through my horsey phase when I was nine or ten but my daughter got the bug quite a bit earlier. She was only two years old when she heard the sound of horses hooves outside and rushed to the window to watch a rider pass by outside. Suddenly she burst into tears and since she was inconsolable for some time I began to worry that she'd hurt herself somehow. Eventually she calmed down and was able to tell me that she wished so very much that she had been on the horse! What a funny, passionate little noodle she was! We got her a little rocking horse shortly after this which she never looked at, but when she got a plastic toy stables play set for Christmas, she played with nothing else for ages!

See you tomorrow,