Feel better with a vintage-style Best of Flowers

My final card for my Get Well week was made especially for a lovely friend of mine who is recovering from an operation. She is a very creative lady who, as well as making wonderful cards and gift packaging, sews beautifully too - which is why canvas seemed a good idea to me! Come and see:

After making this card recently, it's been in the back of my mind to try other stamps on canvas and I thought this one from Best Of Flowers might look almost as if it had been embroidered on. I inked it up using my beloved markers, huffed on the stamp and pressed it onto the canvas - easy peasy!

I snipped the top into a label shape. TIP: It's easy to keep the label symmetrical if you cut one side and use the off-cut as a template to cut the other side. I added some textured card stock cut with the Modern Label punch and layered a punched circle over it before punching a hole through all the layers and tying up with some linen thread.

The sentiment is from the beautiful Express Yourself hostess set. (These are exclusive sets available for those placing a group or single order of £150 or more, but members of my Stampers 6 club are also able to order them. Click here to find out more.)

My friend gives my youngest son piano lessons and he is very fond of her. I thought you might like to see the card he made for her too. He drew the piano but that's the cat from Storybook Friends on the stool and the speech bubble is from Timeless Talk!

Here's what you'll need to make my card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Express Yourself
Ink: Early Espresso and markers
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, scraps of Raspberry Ripple and Early Espresso
Other: Canvas, paper snips, Modern Label and 1/2" circle punches, linen thread, 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.

And as a special thank you for shopping with me, you'll get a free gift and a handmade card when you place your first online order with me during September.


Thank goodness (as they say) it's Friday! Last Thursday evening I mentioned to my husband that it would be Friday the 13th next day. "Is it?" he said and added in deceptively casual tones: "I've got my parachute jump tomorrow morning." Oh very funny! I mentioned it again the following day when my youngest son came home from school. "It's Friday 13th today!" I said. "How was your day?"My son threw his bags down in the doorway. "I know!" he said and added: "Something terrible happened!" I looked at him. "Oh no! What happened?" I asked. He frowned while he considered this for a few minutes. "I can't remember now," he said sunnily and sauntered off to raid the kitchen.

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

Sending sympathy with the Best of Flowers

Stampin' Up's new Best of Flowers is such a versatile set with images suitable for practically every occasion. The daisy image for example can be bright and cheery but is also perfect when used in a more subtle way for a card intended to give comfort. Come and see:

I started by masking off a rectangle with sticky notes and sponging in a soft background. The daisies were stamped over the top in black and the sentiment added. When the mask was removed I scored in a handkerchief-style border using the Simply Scored tool.

The panel is attached to one corner of the card base and the card finished with a sprinkling of gems.

I shall link this card up to the fabulous Paper Players challenge where they're looking for CAS with bling.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Love and Sympathy
Ink: Old Olive, Wisteria Wonder, Pink Pirouette classic inks, black stazon
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored, Basic rhinestones, 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.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

I've had lots of questions about 'handkerchief-style' cards. Er... it isn't a real thing, it's just something I made up - I call them that because they look like a folded hanky. Of course I could also include my blooper cards under this heading but they'd be more like a used hanky! Oh dear, I think this post should definitely end here!

See you tomorrow when I'll be showcasing a fast card for Three Minute Thursday (and not being quite so vulgar hopefully!)

Best of Flowers watercoloured hydrangea

Yesterday, when I was making that quick hydrangea card, I had in my mind the kind that can't make up their mind whether they want to be pink or blue - do you know the ones?! I didn't think my effort conveyed that though, so I tried again, this time using proper watercolour paper. Come and see how it turned out:

I gave the hydrangea exactly the same treatment as yesterday but the watercolour paper gives a more intense colour that I think is much more effective. I cut it out with my sharp paper snips, tied a piece of linen thread around it and mounted it onto a background stamped with French Foliage. Here's a close up:

Just look at the blend of colours on the flower head! French Foliage is one of my favourite EVER sets and I'm very sad to see it on the retirement list - well, I say it's on the list but the Cling Mount version has already sold out, not surprisingly.  If you'd like this set in Wood mount, please do contact me as soon as possible!
Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Delightful Dozen
Ink: Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake classic inks, stazon black
Card stock: Very Vanilla, watercolour paper
Other: Garden Green, Marina Mist and Rich Razzleberry markers, aqua painter, linen thread, 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.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and to make way for the new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links for lists of the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

I promised you a special cake today and here it is - an absolutely delicious birthday cake made for me by my lovely, thoughtful daughter:

It's a cake with a difference too:  Without meaning to bore you, I've had one or two health issues over the last 15 years and, this year, I have had some success in addressing them by making changes to what I eat. Wheat is a no-no for me and refined sugar doesn't feature in my diet either... so my daughter found this recipe that contains neither and adapted it. It was melt-in-the-mouth gorgeous, with light, moist, bitter chocolate cake, filled and topped with whipped cream and decorated with dark, sweet cherries. In case you fancy trying it yourself, here's how my daughter made it:

Ingredients:
10 Medjool dates
4 Gala apples or similar
3 eggs
60g coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
60g cocoa powder
60g coconut flour
110ml strong coffee
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
230ml double cream
Cherries
Method:
Peel, core and slice the apples, cook until soft and purée. Allow to cool. Meanwhile, stone the dates and whiz in a food processor. Add the apple purée and the other wet ingredients and whiz again to mix thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients and pulse until mixed. Turn into two buttered, lined 9" tins and bake for 30 mins at 170 degrees C. Turn out onto a wire rack and when completely cool sandwich together with a third of the whipped cream, top with rest and decorate with pitted cherries. Set up an armed guard at the kitchen door to prevent it being demolished by ravening hordes!

Enjoy the weekend. We'll be seeing some more sunshine in the UK according to the forecast - I could get used to this holiday weather! See you soon,

Three minute Best of Flowers

I don't think I've ever come over so floral in my life - and I'm loving it! I used to think that having a few florals in my collection would cover all eventualities but I've now realised that's like a garden planted with just one or two kinds of flowers! Secret Garden, Summer Silhouettes, Stippled Blossoms, Fabulous Florets, Field Flowers, Pleasant Poppies - they've all become firm favourites and I'm now adding Best of Flowers to the list. Today's quick card uses the gorgeous hydrangea image from the set - come and have a look:

I used an off-cut of Whisper White I'd been stamping on previously. It had some pink stamping still showing on it and I immediately saw that it could feature in a background. You'd be surprised how often your off-cuts can be turned into quick, 'arty' backgrounds!

The hydrangea stamp was inked up with Garden Green and Marina Mist markers, then the flower head was tapped with a Rich Razzleberry marker. I huffed on it, stamped it a couple of times and gave it a quick wash-over with an aqua painter. The scene was cut out with my trusty 2 1/2" circle punch and the edges roughed up and sponged before stamping with a sentiment, sprinkling with gems and mounting onto the card front.

I'm going to link this card up to Di's snippety playground where Miss will be having her work cut out getting us to keep our sun hats on this week!

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Petite Pairs
Ink: Blushing Bride, Marina Mist, Garden Green classic inks, stazon black
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Garden Green, Marina Mist and Rich Razzleberry markers, 2 1/2" circle punch, Basic rhinestones, aqua painter, 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.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and to make way for the new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links for lists of the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

To those ladies that asked to see my Rampaging Rector, I couldn't possibly show you pictures of my wilderness er I mean garden but I promise there'll be a photo when the roses are out and and the Rector is looking his best! In the meantime though, how about this wonderful bloom that surprised me by opening out on my birthday last week:

It's a peony which I bought for just pennies at a car boot sale three or four years ago, planted and then forgot all about because it just sat there sulking. This year it's suddenly decided it's going to be happy after all! We live in such an 'instant' society but time and time again I'm reminded that being patient really is a good plan.

Do join me again tomorrow when there'll be more floral offerings of the inky variety - and also a very special CAKE!!!

The front door thank you with Best of Flowers

I peeked at the Less is More challenge on Saturday but all the sunshine we're having is making me feel colourful and my front door is black in a white frame, so I didn't feel ragingly inspired. While my new Best of Flowers stamp set was out though, an idea did occur to me - come and see:

What a nightmare it was photographing this little number! But it does look rather elegant in real life, honestly! To make it, I cut a panel of Basic Black card stock and stamped the daisy image from Best of Flowers down the side using versamark. This was then heat embossed using clear embossing powder.

While stamping the daisies, I left an indent for a sentiment and chose this one from Oh Hello, which I thought worked well with the bold design. It was stamped in versamark again but this time I used white embossing powder to heat emboss it.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Oh Hello
Ink: Versamark
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black
Other: White and clear embossing powder, heat tool, 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.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here but, to make way for new items, some of our favourites will be retiring. Click the links to see lists of STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

This is my front door, complete with triffids, which are actually currently under some kind of control! The front garden is a real sun trap in the afternoons and I occasionally take a book and a cup of tea out there at weekends - hence the chair. The cat thinks it's been put there for her use only of course, so it is also the scene of some unseemly power struggles!

See you tomorrow for more crafting fun,

Playing tag with the Best of Flowers

My lovely local garden centre is very helpful but there were still some raised eyebrows when I turned up there one afternoon and told them I was looking for a Rambling Rector (for the uninitiated - it's a rose!) I returned home with a healthy specimen to coax over a rose arch and three years later, it doesn't so much ramble as run riot! Yesterday I had the chance to either cut it back or have a go with my Best of Flowers set... Well, what would you have done?! Come and see what I made:

I adore this wonderful silhouetted daisy image and it's perfect for teaming with inky backgrounds. This one was made by masking off an area on a tag cut with the Two Tags Bigz die and sponging in colour, then adding the daisies and a sentiment with black stazon ink.

When you use colours that are quite close to each other on the colour wheel (I've used Old Olive and Pool Party here) they are easy to blend for that 'airbrushed' look. TIP: always sponge colour on lightly - remember, you can always add but you can't take away!

I chose a sentiment from Petite Pairs and added an Old Olive button threaded with linen twine. You'll find these buttons on the Retirement Accessories list (below) as well as the Two Tags die I used today.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Petite Pairs
Ink: Old Olive, Pool Party classic inks, Stazon black
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Big Shot, Two Tags Bigz die (retiring), Brights designer buttons (retiring), linen thread, 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.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here but in the meantime, you can nab yourself a BARGAIN!!! Click here to find STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

So you see, I didn't quite manage to get out in the garden with my secateurs - oops! Perhaps there'll be time later... I hope to be back here tomorrow with more Best of Flowers inspiration - but if I'm not, you'll know I've been got by the Rampaging Rector - aaaaargh!

Hugs,

Even MORE news from Stampin' Up!

I expect Stampin' Up knew it was my birthday yesterday (LOL!) as some gorgeous new stamps have been released! First, there's a wonderful 'Best of' set and second, some fabulous single stamps. Come and have a look:

It's called Best of Flowers - isn't it stunning?! It's a cling mount set, for use with clear acrylic blocks, and costs £13.95/ 17.95€. That pink line around the single flower image shows how it can be cut out with the 1 1/4" scallop punch which makes it perfect for quick cards - I've already got some ideas buzzing about my head. The 'Best Of' sets are designed using popular Stampin' Up artwork from the last 25 years, and include one never-before-seen image - and yes there will be more! A new set will be released every month until October, each with a different theme, and they'll be available until March 2014. It's been suggested that these 'Best Of' sets are a celebration of Stampin' Up's 25th anniversary, so maybe not my birthday then...

... but how about the fantastic new single stamps?!

Each one of these stamps is sold separately - Basic Label and Oh Baby are £6.50/8.50 € while Spec-tacular, Boutique Blossom and Hello, Hello are £6.95/9.50€. They are available in Cling Mount for use with acrylic blocks and will be available until the end of August. Just look at that funky Spec-tacular - I can't wait to get my mitts on that, but I love them all!

Are you as excited as I am about these new releases? It could be a great weekend to go shopping with me - and don't forget that you can add a bargain or two from the Retiring STAMPS and ACCESSORIES lists too! To place your order, contact me by email or phone 01280 820593 and I'll be happy to help.

Have fun!