A play with plaid

Hello crafting friends!

It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that Alcohol markers have rocked my crafting world. What CAN'T you do with them?! (Actually, I'm sure there's a whole list, so maybe don't answer that!) Today's card was made almost entirely with alcohol markers! Come and see:

I stamped the image with Memento black ink and coloured it with a mixture of Spectrum Noirs and Stampin' Up Blendabilities. The candle wax area was treated with a colour lifter to get that waxy effect.

I don't know what the stamp is called but it is from Alota Rubber Stamps and I was thrilled to have won it in a long-ago challenge. I believe the company closed a few years ago though - always sad to hear.

I fussy cut my coloured candle decoration and set it aside while I made the background.

I've noticed there's a lot of tartan or plaid (whichever you call it!) around this season and I decided to make some, using non-traditional colours. Any Scot would be appalled by the result I'm sure! I simply used alcohol markers and a ruler to weave my background, trimmed it and ran a marker round the edges.

The inspiration to go tartan-tastic came from CAS(E) this Sketch, where this is the challenge this week:

I'm also linking up with a new (to me) challenge called Christmas at Sweet Stampin' where 'Anything Goes with an optional twist of Christmas Decorations.'

And another new (to me) challenge called Double Trouble where the challenge is 'Something Plaid.' There are optional twists but I cravenly stopped there!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I have seen my youngest son! He had to have some equipment for his university course and it didn't arrive in time for him to take it with him last weekend, so I made the trip to drop it off. He is happy and having fun and has definitely made his room his own! I took him out for lunch and watched while he demolished most of the menu. When our waitress asked doubtfully whether we'd like dessert menus, he twinkled at her and told her that he was still pretty much starving, so I don't think he'll need feeding again until Christmas now!

Thank you for coming to visit me today. Do come back again tomorrow won't you as I'll be doing something very exciting! I can't wait to show you!

Hugs,

Indescribable Gift - Stampin' Up artisan blog hop

Yay! It's a blog hop sort of a day! Every Thursday, the Stampin' Up artisan designers (and I still can't believe that includes me!) pull out all the stops to inspire you with some of the current products. I'm constantly amazed by my talented team mates' projects and I know you will be too as you hop around the world!

WHAT A GIFT!

I nearly fell over when I saw the goodies that Stampin' Up sent us to use in February and the stamp set I'm using today is a huge favourite! It's called Indescribable Gift which, ironically, describes it very well indeed! Come and see the card I made with it:

It's always a joy to make a card to celebrate a wedding and the beautiful blossom from Indescribable Gift is the perfect image to use with its connotations of new beginnings. I stamped the blossom in Crumb Cake classic ink several times on my panel before colouring the leaves and flowers with blendabilities markers.

The blossom looks wonderful coloured with Stampin' Up's stunning pinks but I wanted to show you how pretty a peachy-coloured blossom looks. Can you guess which colours I used? Yes, I chose Natural and Ivory from the Skin Tones Assortment - and no, these aren't just for skin!

I know what you're thinking - where did I find the peachy card stock to mount my panel on? Well, it's a white panel actually - I simply ran the brush end of the Natural pen around the edge of it before mounting my floral panel on it.

A wedding card requires something just a little bit special so I added a little dimension to just a few of the flowers by stamping them a couple more times, colouring them and cutting them out before glueing them to the originals. Some tiny pearls added the final detail and I think they look rather pretty!

It's always so much fun customising greetings isn't it? Here I stamped 'congratulations' from the Bravo photopolymer set in Calypso Coral and 'so happy for you' from the free Sale-a-bration set Simply Wonderful in Crumb Cake. Now my card says exactly what I want it to - although with Mothers' Day coming up on 15th March in the UK, this could work as a special card for mum with a change of greeting!

I hope you're inspired by my wedding card today. You'll find plenty more to enjoy as you hop around the globe visiting the other artisan designers. Click the button below to visit the fab Allison Okamitsu!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY 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

Indescribable Gift Wood Stamp Set £18.95	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Skin Tone Assortment £20.95	Wild Wasabi Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95
Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments £4.50	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Bravo Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Simply Wonderful Wood Stamp Set £0.00

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.

All this pretty blossom has been making me yearn for spring to arrive, especially since the pup and I are outside so much of the time. Thank goodness she is happy to take a daily bath because she only has to see a muddy puddle to be covered in it!

Now, are you ready for some very exciting news? Come and join me tomorrow when all will be revealed!

Two quick Valentines Day cards for the guys

It's Valentine's Day on Saturday folks and just in case you're running out of time or need a bit of inspiration, here are a couple of quick and simple cards to let the chaps in your life know you care!

This one layer uses a mask made with the Full Heart punch. I sponged Soft Sky ink into it and then over-stamped with that wonderful starry image from Celebrate Today before taking the mask away. The sentiment is a lovely one from Something to Say.

The next card uses the one of the images from Hey Valentine. That sweetie-pie pirate would be great for a children's card, or for a man who loves cute, but for a more manly version (that wouldn't insult a teen!) why not use a Stampin' Write marker to stamp just the treasure chest from the stamp? I coloured mine in with blendabilities markers and cut it out with a circle punch. The sentiment, from the same image, was stamped separately and cut out with a smaller circle punch.

I hope these simple cards have inspired you to get going with some valentines for your loved ones, young and old. Don't miss out on the opportunity to tell them you love them!

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

Sweetheart Punch £14.25	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set £23.95
Hey, Valentine Clear Stamp Set £15.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Crumb Cake Assortment ...	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers £11.75

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.

My family know that I adore them but Valentine's Day is a great excuse to let them know in writing! This little treasure can't read...

... and a card would just get eaten! I was thinking of saying it with a heart-shaped burger instead - that'll get eaten too, and will take less time to eat, but at least it will be nourishing!

See you tomorrow,

Speechless with love in a box, using Cheerful Critters from Stampin' Up

One of the sets from the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue I had to have instantly was Cheerful Critters. My youngest son fell about laughing when he saw the 'I like your face' sentiment, my daughter squee-ed over those little characters and although my eldest son remained impassive, I know he secretly thinks they're cute too! This is the card I'll be giving my youngest son on Valentine's Day (I think I'm safe to show it!)

How adorable is this chubby little chick?! I love the determined expression on that little face :) I coloured the image with blendabilities...

... and added hearts to the banner using the Itty Bitty Accents epoxy stickers, which I also coloured with blendies!

Finally I popped my chick in a cardboard box made out of a rectangle of Crumb Cake card stock, folded over and secured with a glue dot.

It was The Paper Players that inspired this card with Claire's theme challenge 'Create a Valentine To or From a Furry Friend'. (I'm hoping my feathery friend will pass muster!)

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

Cheerful Critters Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment £10.95	Soft Sky Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95
Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers £3.75	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock £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.

I love the idea of popping out of a box with a banner on Valentine's Day but it would be hard to find a box big enough and also my family wouldn't notice as it's the sort of thing we do these days to amuse the pup!

Have a great weekend won't you and I'll see you on Monday.

Love is Kindness (and a bunch of tulips!) by Stampin' Up

I've been busy making some spring birthday cards - and what a gorgeous selection of spring stamps there are in the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue! The one I've used today is a beauty (and it allows me to get a little Blendabilities therapy!) Come and see:

This fabulous, wrapped-up bunch of tulips is normally used upright but I thought it would be fun to turn it sideways as if it had been laid down on a kitchen counter. I made my wooden counter with the Hardwood background stamp which I find is in constant use!

I'm not much of a one for complicated colouring but with these tulips you get a great effect with just a few scribbles of the blendabilities markers. I used the new Pink Pirouette and Wild Wasabi sets and added a few drops of Crystal Effects for that 'fresh from the garden' look!

The beautiful sentiment is from Basic Butterflies and I'm finding it's one I use again and again.

I'll be linking this card up with CASology where the code word is Birthday, Seize the Birthday where anything goes this time, and ATSM which is running a CAS challenge this week.

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

Love Is Kindness Wood Stamp £7.95	Pink Pirouette Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95	Wild Wasabi Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95
Crystal Effects £5.25	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set £12.95	Linen Thread £3.95

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.

Just a very quick post from me today because I'm getting ready for my VIV (Very Important Visitor!) in between washing mud off my mud magnet puppy who is looking more guinness than champagne! Who is visiting? My lovely daughter is coming back from uni for the weekend so we're all hanging out the flags for her!

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday,