Happy Easter!

I've been mulling over the challenge from CASology this month where the cue word is Hope and then it suddenly occurred to me that a Christian Easter card would be perfect with its message of hope for mankind. Come and see:

I've used the branch from the wonderful Take Care stamp set to make this card. I think the leafy branches in the shape of a cross are perfect to say that while Jesus died on the cross, it was not the end.

I inked the branch up with markers before stamping a few times and fussy cutting. Linen thread is tied around the join and gives the look of a cross.

I made the frame using my Simply Scored tool and the 'green hill far away' with the Borders plate. The areas were coloured in roughly with an aquapainter and ink and the sentiment added with a stamp-a-majig for accurate placement.

I also have a Christmas card to show you today, made for Sandra's Rudolph Day challenge and inspired by the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where they want to see cards featuring ribbons and bows. Here's my effort:

I used Stampin' Up's Beautiful Season holly and bird and added my favourite embellishment of the moment...

... yes! It's a bit of scoring using my beloved Borders scoring plate! My Cherry Cobbler seam binding fits perfectly in the middle of the two scored borders and I've added a showy double bow and a delicate sentiment from Petite Pairs.

It's Good Friday so I'm not going to add a list of what I used to make these cards but if there's anything you'd like to know about, or you'd like to place an order with me, do send me an email.

I shall be taking a break from blogging over the coming week so that I can romp about with my lovely family but (always assuming there are no bones broken!) I shall be back with more crafting fun very soon. Thank you so much for coming to visit me - I really do appreciate all your comments and emails and look forward to catching up with you soon.

Happy Easter everyone!

A piercing glow

I made a quick card for the Less is More challenge on Saturday but piercing continued to occupy my mind and I had another idea, this time for a Christmas card. Come and have a look:

Stampin' Up do two styles of paper piercing templates, the Festive ones and the Essentials ones; they come in packs of three and both packs coordinate with lots of the punches and framelits. I've used the concentric circles on one of the Essentials templates for this card. They're designed to be used individually with the circle punches, but I love the look of all or several of the circles together (see another example here) and it made me think of the glow you get from a candle.

I've been using my Watercolour Wonder crayons with a blender pen lately (the cards will be posted soon!) and I thought the technique would work well for a flame. Can you guess how I cut the flame out? Yes, it's the wing from the 2 step bird punch! That punch will be making the tea next!

The candle is made using my Simply Scored and Stampin' Up's lovely thick vellum - I scored the candle shape, used my stylus on my squishy craft mat to 'colour it in' and make wax drips, and cut it out with my sharp paper snips. It's been in my mind since before last Christmas to see if this would work and I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out  - quite waxy-looking!

I grounded the candle with some pine branches, a gorgeous Cherry Cobbler seam binding bow, a sentiment tag and some fussy-cut holly. This probably isn't the most CAS card I've ever made but there's still plenty of breathing space so I'm hoping I'll get away with it!

Now, what's the date today? Yes, it's the 25th so that means it's Rudolph Day over at the lovely Sandra's blog and I can enter my Christmas card - how's that for planning?!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Beautiful Season, Lovely as a Tree, Petite Pairs
Ink: Always Artichoke, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Vellum
Other: Essentials paper-piercing pack, Watercolour Wonder Crayons, blender pen, Real Red marker, Simply Scored, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, 2-step bird punch
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I can never look at a candle without thinking of the wonderful Two Ronnies Fork Handles sketch. One of the lovely things about having children is that you can share all your old favourite comedy moments with them and my daughter and I have just been doubled up over this one. Here it is for a bit of Monday morning viewing entertainment (well it beats hoovering!)



See you tomorrow,

Merry monochrome Christmas

It's always fun having a play around with colours and seeing what different effects you can get, but sometimes it's a nice idea to pare everything right back and make a card with just one colour and a neutral. That's what I did with todays card, choosing the rich, deep pinkish red of Raspberry Ripple and the purity of Very Vanilla. Come and see:

This card uses a favourite technique of mine - to stamp a panel then mask off the centre and sponge round the edges to make a inked frame. I love the way the stamped image appears through the ink on the frame.

With monochrome the danger is that the eye can see it as too 'samey' so the secret is to add texture. There's plenty of detail in this two step poinsettia from Watercolour Winter and I've added a pierced detail to the frame with my Essentials paper-piercing templates as well as a bit of sparkle to the centres of the flowers with Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details.

This gorgeous sentiment from Beautiful Season has plenty of movement in it - although thinking about it now, I would have embossed it if I were to make the card again.

Here's how to make this card
Stamps: Watercolour Winter, Beautiful Season (sentiment)
Ink: Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Essentials paper-piercing pack, Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

What is it about teenage boys that makes them feel invincible?! My eldest son disappeared into the frost at the weekend 'practically naked' (wearing a t-shirt and jeans with a thin hoodie over the top) and returned with the kind of steam coming off him that you normally see when you open the freezer. I tried to give him a woolly scarf this morning as he set off for school but he looked at me in horror and ran away shrieking! 

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow so I'll be back with something fast. See you then.

Another way to use Watercolour Winter

I am delighted to see there's another fabulous new CAS challenge site in blogland, CAS - Colours and Sketches, and I'm even more delighted to have been asked to guest for their very first challenge!  Here's the sketch and colour combination, a really lovely autumnal mix of colours, but being someone who is a bit of a lunatic likes a challenge, I gave myself the extra test of turning them into a Christmas card! Not only that, but it's Three Minute Thursday here on my blog today, so it has to be a quick card... aaargh! Can I do it? Well, come and have a look:

If I were asked what my favourite Christmas stamp set is this season, I would unhesitatingly reply Watercolour Winter! It's a two step stamping set, which makes it very versatile - you can stamp the outline images and stamp the 'colouring in' over the top OR you can stamp the outline images and colour in using an aquapainter, markers, pencils, crayons etc OR you can do what I've done today: use one of the 'colouring in' images as a background and stamp the corresponding outline image randomly over the top!

I masked my panel with thin strips of post it note and stamped my design using Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip inks. The berries were added with a Cherry Cobbler marker before peeling the strips away. The panel was then attached to the card base, leaving lots of lovely space, and the sentiment was stamped, punched out with the Decorative Label punch and added to the centre using dimensionals.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Watercolour Winter, Beautiful Season (sentiment)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip classic ink, Cherry Cobbler marker
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Decorative Label punch
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

So did I make a Christmas card using these autumnal colours? Yes! Did I come up with a design that can be made in three minutes? Yes! Am I in a heap on the floor because I've still got the lurgy? Yes! Never mind, I think my husband is going for the title of 'Husband of the Year' as he's stepped in and cooked, tidied and supplied me with lemsip and hot water bottles - well it's either that, or he's expecting a very large, expensive Christmas present this year!

EDITED TO ADD: My lurgy has turned out to be bronchitis and my poor husband has now developed an abscess on his gum so that's both of us out of action. The children are doing an excellent job of holding the fort but I think it's safe to say that I won't be here tomorrow. Hope to see you very soon though.

From our house to yours

I made today's card for Less is More's Houses theme this week but wasn't going to post it as I'm not ragingly keen on the result. However, since time has scooped me up and galloped off with me willy nilly in the last couple of days, it's either this or nothing today! Come and see:

I made a house-shaped mask with my square punches - the new 1" one fits the 1 3/8" one perfectly as a roof! - and my paper snips. Pool party ink was sponged inside the mask, before overstamping with a small snowflake stamp for a bit of texture. The ribbon image from Create a Cupcake was stamped over the top in Real Red ink and I used a marker to extend the lines to the edges of the house shape.

This wonderful sentiment from Beautiful Season is perfect for adding to square images as it wraps snugly around a corner. I embellished my house present with a little heart tag tied up with Cherry Cobbler bakers twine and you may have spotted a little 'smoke' coming from the chimney - that's inked in with a sponge dauber (and a light hand!) Well, you have to have a real fire at Christmas don't you?!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Beautiful Season (sentiment), Create a Cupcake (ribbon image), Make a Mitten (snowflake)
Ink: Pool Party, Real Red
Card stock: Naturals White, scrap of Whisper White
Punches: 1" and 1 3/8" squares, jewellery punch, owl punch (for the hearts)
Other: Red glimmer paper, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine, markers, paper snips, 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, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

Our French exchange student arrived and is charming! His English is absolutely superb and he fits nicely into our happy little family. There have been one or two little moments of course - I did have to gently point out that when one asks politely whether one may leave the table, it's best not to add "I'm stuffed" afterwards!

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you soon.

Watercolour Winter poinsettia

I'm making loads of Christmas cards now, because I'd love to get them done ready for early posting this year, and I'm finding the CASE this Sketch challenge excellent inspiration! I almost missed the entry deadline again this week but I'm hoping to just squeak in with today's card! Come and have a look:

I'm a huge fan of the Watercolour Winter stamp set in the seasonal catalogue and thought the poinsettia would make a lovely focal point for the circular element in the sketch.

It's a two step set, with an outline and a filler stamp for each image - which is why it looks so arty! I stamped it several times and cut out sections to layer up on dimensionals, finishing the centre with dots of glue embossed in gold.

The background strip was masked off using post it notes and stamped in versamark using the En Français background stamp. I clear embossed this, sponging over it with green inks before removing the masks. A strip of Raspberry Ripple card stock balances out the flower...

... and this lovely sentiment from Beautiful Season, which I inked in versamark then straight into Raspberry Ripple ink before stamping and clear embossing.

This is the fabulous sketch I've been working with today.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Watercolour Winter, Beautiful Season, En Français
Ink: Certainly Celery, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Clear and gold embossing powders, versamark, heat tool, 1 3/8" circle punch, paper snips, 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, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

It's half term here at the moment and I'm enjoying having all my children wandering in and out. I spotted my youngest son tucking into an apple yesterday morning and asked him if he'd mind bringing me one, so he did - in the style of the wicked queen from Snow White. "Would you like one of these apples that certainly aren't poisoned in any way?" he said holding out the bowl. I selected one and he made me jump with a very convincing witchy cackle. Perhaps he's practising for halloween. I was rather hoping one bite would've sent me off into a really long sleep but no such luck I'm afraid!

Enjoy your Tuesday! I'll be back tomorrow with a tutorial for my wrap around box so do join me for that.

Hugs,

Lion-taming with Zoo Review

It's my great honour to be guesting for the wonderful CASology challenge today! The cue word this week is 'Wild' and I love the way these single words really get you thinking. I reached for my Zoo Review set to make my card which I thought might make a fun anniversary card. Come and see:

CAS cards can sometimes take minutes but this one was definitely not in that category! I stamped and coloured the lion using Watercolour Wonder crayons and markers, scored a double frame around it with my Simply Scored, cut it out and mounted it on my card base. Now it was ready for the comedy touch!

I thought it was time this wild fellow was tamed a little bit so I gave him a red rose to hold between his jaws and I'm sure we'll see him up and tangoing any time now! The rose is from my Apothecary Art set, stamped, coloured and added with a glue dot. The stem was doodled in with a marker.

I stamped the word 'thing' using a sentiment stamp from my Beautiful Season and added a computer generated 'wild' which I cut out with my paper snips. This card makes me giggle and I hope it might have turned up the corners of your mouth too!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Zoo Review, Apothecary Art, Beautiful Season (sentiment)
Ink: Watercolour Wonder crayons and markers
Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals White
Other: Simply Scored, paper snips, 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, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

Lions always remind me of the first board book my daughter had as a baby. It had pictures of lots of animals in it and I'd make the appropiate noises for her entertainment as we looked at it together. I didn't realise the impact it made on her though until one day I used the phrase 'I'd draw the line at that' while talking to my husband about something and my baby daughter made a little roaring noise!

I think I might have something festive here tomorrow so do join me for that!
Hugs

Christmas hearts for a Beautiful Season

Any minute now, I'm going to need to send out some Christmas cards! Well, okay, that might be a slight exaggeration but it's only 45 days until the 1st of December and people certainly like to display cards in December don't they?! I thought I'd better crack on with some so, inspired by the gorgeous Green, Brown, Cream and Gold colour scheme at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, and the Heart theme at CASual Fridays, here's what I came up with:

I made a mask with one of my Labels framelits and sponged Summer Starfruit ink into it to create a golden glow. The pine needles from Watercolour Winter were stamped over the top and Early Espresso ink sponged round one side for a little definition before removing the mask.

The heart ornaments from Tiny Tags were stamped in versmark on Naturals Ivory then heat embossed in gold. I used the small heart punch when cutting them out - it's not an exact fit but it certainly helps! The card was finished with this lovely sentiment from Beautiful Season.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Watercolour Winter, Tiny Tags, Beautiful Season (sentiment)
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, Early Espresso
Card stock: Very Vanilla, scrap of Naturals Ivory
Other: Big Shot, Labels framelits, Sahara Sand marker, versamark, gold embossing powder, heat tool, 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, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

I was listening to the great Pam Ayres on the radio yesterday and was delighted to hear some of her housework tips: Fed up with hoovering but like the warmth of carpet? Pam recommends installing hard flooring and sticking bits of carpet to your slippers instead! Cleaning your windows is a mistake she says - dirty windows stop people from looking in and seeing the mess! I may not have taken all her advice but my housework was done in record time!

I'll have a designer paper idea for you tomorrow - hope to see you then!

Summer Silhouettes for someone special

There are some exciting events going on at CASual Fridays where I understand they're launching a sister challenge, but this week's challenge is to make a card to celebrate the special women in our lives. My thoughts immediately went to someone very special indeed - my daughter. She is a lovely, caring, thoughtful young woman who never blindly follows the crowd; I have the utmost respect for her and I feel very privileged to know her. Here's the little note card I've made for her:

Did I tell you she's extremely bright and very beautiful too?!  She doesn't like fussy cards, so this is essentially a one layer card with a popped-up flower centre and some rhinestones to embellish. I used my new Summer Silhouettes stamp set - perfect for feminine cards all the year round!

The sentiment was made with a combination of sentiment stamps using a stamp-a-majig for position. One of stamps was a Christmas sentiment - I like to think that a festive set is not just for Christmas! The sentiment is given prominence with a couple of scored lines.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Beautiful Season, Petite Pairs
Ink: Certainly Celery, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Basic Rhinestones, Simply Scored, paper snips, 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, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

One of the things I love most about my daughter is her sense of humour. She often takes me by surprise with unexpected behaviour too - for example once, when receiving a gift, she abandoned the conventional hug and thank you in favour of waving her arm behind her. "Look, Mummy," she said, twinkling at me. "My tail is wagging!"

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow when I'll have a very fast card to show you. See you then,

Autumn Days white on white

One of my greatest pleasures this year has been using seam binding in my projects and I was so excited when I saw it in Cherry Cobbler! At Make My Monday the monthly theme is Seasonal and this week they're asking for cards incorporating red ribbon so out came my Cherry Cobbler seam binding again! Come and have a look:

I've used my Autumn Days set again to stamp the main panel.The edges were distressed then it was layered onto textured white, before attaching to the card front.

This lovely Christmas sentiment from Beautiful Season is just as at home on the outside as the inside of a card. You can see the shimmer of the silver embossing in this photo and the shine of the rhinestones - just like a frosty Christmas morning!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love seam binding ribbon? And in Cherry Cobbler? Hmm... yes, I think I might have done just once or twice... !

I tied the seam binding round the embossed mat, then the main panel was attached over the top with dimensionals so that it sits neatly over the ribbon.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Autumn Days, Beautiful Season

Ink: Real Red

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Markers, basic rhinestones, stamp-a-majig, versamark ink, silver embossing powder, heat tool, seam binding ribbon in Cherry Cobbler, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder

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. 

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Yesterday, on my way to collect my youngest son from school, it began to snow! There is something quite magical about snow at this time of year, although when I remarked on this to a shivering friend she was unable to share my enthusiasm! And as we walked back to the car through what had already turned to muddy slush, I must say I could see her point!

Thank you for spending a bit of your time here today and a big welcome to my new followers - I very much appreciate your support. I shall be back tomorrow with Three Minute Thursday and I'll hope to see you then!