Vintage Everybunny!

There's an overall vintage theme going during September at Make My Monday and this week's particular challenge is Vintage Childhood. Vintage isn't really my strong point - as you may have noticed! - but I had a go at this, inspired also by the bingo over at Addicted to Stamps. Come and have a look:

I thought I'd go with a scored card base, made using my diagonal Simply Scored board insert, and topped it with this rabbit from Everybunny on an inked and wheeled vintage-style background. The bunny normally wears a t-shirt, but, when you ink with markers, you can just leave out the bits you don't want - it makes your stamps so versatile!

Now my bunny looks like one of those old-fashioned soft toys - think The Velveteen Rabbit! I gave him a flag to hold - it's a strip of card stock topped with the streamer from Ain't Love Grand - and teamed him with lace and pearls to add to the vintage feel.

I chose the top line of the ATS bingo card, with scoring, yellow (hope the More Mustard ink counts!) and a birthday theme.

I've got to admit, this card is so far out of my comfort zone that I might need a map and compass to get back! I've really enjoyed the challenge though.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Everybunny, Create a Cupcake (sentiment), Very Vintage wheel, Ain't Love Grand (hostess, retiring)
Ink: Basic Grey, So Saffron, More Mustard, Crumb Cake
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Simply Scored plus diagonal board, Basic Pearls, Chantilly crochet trim (retiring), Basic Pearls, 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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

It's been a busy week but now it's time to wind down for the weekend and welcome my husband back from his parents'. We've already heard that my father in law's operation was a success so let's hope he'll recover quickly and get a new lease of life. Thank you so much to everyone that left good wishes, it's much appreciated.

Enjoy the weekend and I'll be back very soon,

Happiest Birthday Wishes in the sky

Of all the styles of cards there are, clean and simple is my favourite - which is why I'm pleased to be joining in with CASology again this week. I love the way the challenges are just one word - this week's cue is 'Sky'. Come and see what I've made:

My sky has been sponged into a post it note mask made with my large square punch. Can you believe it's only just occurred to me that I can make a larger area by 'nibbling' with the punch! I used my 'hungry caterpiller' cloud template too - it's a line of circles, cut out with punches and glued together, and it makes great clouds when you sponge over them!

I topped my sky with the aeroplane from the hostess set Ain't Love Grand, popped up on dimensionals, and gave it a vapour trail with the curvy sentiment from another hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes.

If you'd love to be able to get your hands on hostess goodies but aren't able to have a party in your home, why not join my Stampers 6 Club? The club operates for a six month period and during one of the months you would be the virtual hostess and would be able to choose freebies of at least £25, including the exclusive hostess goodies if you'd like them. You get lots of other benefits too - not least of which are free catalogues during your membership! The next one starts next month when the new catalogue comes out and if you're quick, you can join in - click here to find out how.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Ain't Love Grand, Happiest Birthday Wishes (both retiring)
Ink: Marina Mist
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Markers, square punch, different sizes of circle punches for clouds, stamp-a-majig, paper snips
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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

Yesterday, my daughter came home from school blinking. "You look tired," I told her. "It's not that," she said. "It's just that the teacher in my last class has such a soothing voice it's hard not to drift off!" Oh dear, that doesn't bode well does it? Strong coffee anyone?!

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

Male card for a stamp collector!

Good morning! The holidays are over, the children have all gone back to school with porridge in their tummies this chilly spring morning, and I'm starting the week with a male card as usual. At Make My Monday this month the overall theme is Male Cards and this week's challenge is Sports and Hobbies, so that's what inspired today's card. Come and have a look:

My brother collected stamps when he was a boy and I remember his excitement about the possibility of one day discovering a rare stamp. I loved his album with its pages of colourful stamps. One of the must-haves from the spring mini catalogue in my opinion is the Postage Stamp punch  - I love being able to make postage stamps in any design I like! The punch is only available until the end of the month, so if you'd like one you'll need to order it soon.

To make the stamps in this card I first cut a 2.5cm (1") square into a post it note and used it as a mask, stamping the aeroplane into the hole and sponging a background with a sponge dauber. The planes were then coloured with markers and the stamps cut out with the Postage Stamp punch which gives them their distinctive border.

I do like a tag on a card! This luggage label-style tag is made from Crumb Cake card stock; I glued a punched circle to it and cut a hole through both layers with my cropadile before threading it with white bakers twine.

This sentiment is from the For My Family set which is so useful for personalising cards and other projects. Uncles, in-laws, teachers, siblings... you name them, everyone gets a mention in this brilliant set!
Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Ain't Love Grand (hostess set), For My Family

Ink: Early Espresso, Bashful Blue, Peach Parfait, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Wisteria Wonder, Riding Hood Red

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: Markers, 3/4" circle punch, cropadile, white bakers twine, Postage Stamp punch, sponge daubers, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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. And don't forget to add a free pack of designer paper if your order is £45 or more (Offer limited to one pack per qualifying order - click here for details).

As usual, the end of the holiday signals a major clear up so I'll be changing beds, sorting piles of laundry and wielding a hoover and cleaning cloths today. There might just be time to squeeze in a quick card though so do pop back tomorrow.

Hugs,

Ain't love grand - get well wishes

Hmm. Today's card doesn't really fit the glorious sunshine that's pouring through my windows today but we'll carry on regardless! Making a card based on a song is the fun challenge at  CAS-ual Fridays  this week, and I've chosen Prince's gloriously melodramatic Purple Rain for my entry. Come and have a look:

I started with the background which was made by drawing rain onto an acrylic block with my Wisteria Wonder marker, spritzing with water and pressing onto my card stock. When it was dry (just a few minutes) I masked off the top and sponged the foreground in.

The fabulous umbrella image is from the hostess set Ain't Love Grand, which contains all sorts of versatile images. I've coloured it in Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush and highlighted with a white gel pen. The sentiment is a combination of words taken from Petite Pairs.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Ain't Love Grand, Petite Pairs

Ink: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder

Card stock: Concord Crush, Whisper White

Other: Markers, acrylic block E, white gel pen, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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. And don't forget to add a free pack of designer paper if your order is £45 or more (Offer limited to one pack per qualifying order - click here for details).

I was rather pleased with this card until my daughter pointed out that it was unlikely to cheer anyone up and I might just as well add some lightning! She's in the room painting today as she has work to complete for her Art GCSE and it's lovely to have the company. The boys have yet to emerge from their manly caves...

Have a lovely day today and I'll see you tomorrow.

There's something fabulous... valentine

I've recently started playing along with the ColourQ and I am addicted! Every week there's a wonderful inspiration photo along with a colour challenge and this is the current one.

How gorgeous is this?! Aren't you immediately inspired?! Well I was - come and see what I made:

This gorgeous little balloon is from a hostess set called Ain't Love Grand. It contains six stunning outline images with sentiments and I bought it because I wanted to experiment more with colouring. You can see I have a long way to go (!) but I think I'm getting away with it and I can just imagine these wonderful images in the hands of one of you amazing ladies that colour beautifully - you know who you are! I finished my card by cutting some ruffles with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch and layering them up on one side of the card. To keep the balloon panel flat I attached the ruffle side with glue and the other side with dimensionals.

I made a card for last week's ColourQ too but being a complete looby I didn't get it entered in time! The inspiration was wonderful again:

And here's what I came up with:

I know you're not supposed to take these things literally but I really did have to make one of those amazing hearts! The 'thread' for my heart is the curl from Perfect Punches - I love putting my stamps to all sorts of use!

See how dimensional the heart is? It was great fun to make - I just punched out the red heart and die cut the white one then hand-cut a mat for each out of black card stock with my sharp paper snips. The white one was stamped with the little flower from Create a Cupcake and embellished by dotting with Real Red and Basic Black markers. The white dots on the black mats were added with my white gel pen before assembling the heart with dimensionals.

I found the perfect sentiment in the Create a Cupcake set too. The sentiment in full reads: There's something fabulous about your birthday {must be you!} but by picking out just the first bit with a marker, I've got a great valentine sentiment - isn't that fun?!

Supplies needed for these cards:

BALLOON CARD

Stamps: Ain't Love Grand (hostess set)

Ink: Basic Grey

Card stock: Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Regal Rose

Other: Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Regal Rose markers,  Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, dimensionals, stamp-a-majig

HEART CARD

Stamps: Create a Cupcake, Perfect Punches

Ink: Regal Rose, Baja Breeze

Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Crumb Cake smooth and textured

Other: Real Red, Basic Black markers, white gel pen, Large Heart punch, heart die from Timeless Type alphabet, paper snips, 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!

My youngest son is involved in an inter-school dance group competition and has thrown himself into it with his usual enthusiasm! After explaining some of the moves to me he added: "Of course we have to warm up properly first!" I asked what that entailed and he told me that they used ballet moves. "First we do a plié," he said, "And then a demi-plié. And then we have to do..." he wrinkled his brow a little, "...You know, those things where you come up - I know! Levitate!" I'm thinking that my son's group would win the competition for sure if they've mastered levitation but I expect he means relevé!

Thank you for popping in to visit today. I'll be back tomorrow with Three Minute Thursday so do call again if you have a minute.

Hugs,