Make Shapes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to some crafty Saturday fun courtesy of Addicted to CAS! Jaydee has chosen the code word for the next fortnight:

 

How fun is this?! It could mean a shaped card or a card using shapes as part of its design or a card that uses shapes as part of its decoration... it's up to you! I was inspired to make a masculine card using a bold striped background stamp from Uniko to create skinny rectangles.

 

 

I used waterbased markers on the stripes and then added coloured pencil over the top to increase colour intensity and this created an interesting texture. Isn't the sentiment fun?!  It's from All Year Long by Concord & 9th - a set I have finally hunted down after a long, long search! I didn't want my card to be too symmetrical so I offset the 'happy birthday' part of the sentiment and added some coordinating enamel dots and star.

 

 

I was sending a gift with this card and, after making the card, decided to make a pouch to put it in. A quick look in the designer paper drawer brought this fabulous paper to light - a pretty good match wouldn't you say! Love when that happens :)

Okay, so now it's your turn to interpret the word Shapes - I can't wait to see what you come up with :) Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog to check out all the great samples the design team have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your creation with us when you're ready. Do remember that we are a clean and simple challenge and make sure there's plenty of nice clear space on your card and minimal layers. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Seize the Birthday where Glenda's optional Topping is book-related themes or you can go for an Anything Birthday Goes. My mind jumped to a fable called How the Zebra got his Stripes but my more colourful stripes fit in better with Anything Goes! I'm also joining in at Little Red Wagon where Doni has chosen the theme of Boys Will Be Boys or in other words masculine cards!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The story of the Zebra really sent me down memory lane. If you have small children or grandchildren and are looking for a great story with a good message, look no further than this one - How the Zebra Got His Stripes!

 

 

The story is about a greedy baboon who decides that the watering hole that all the animals need to survive is his property and he isn't going to share. The zebra, who had a plain white coat in those days, tells the baboon that his behaviour is unjust and that he will fight him for the right for the animals to use the pool. The baboon lights a fire next to the pool to ward the animals off but the brave zebra goes to fight him. Zebra defeats the baboon by kicking the baboon away from the pool but gets too close to the fire as he does so. Some of the sticks burn into his coat. I love the message that some things are worth fighting for and that we bear those scars with honour. Zebra's sacrifice bought back the life-giving pool for the other animals.

Sending hugs,

In memory of Ruby the Westie

Hello, crafting friends!

I am very proud to be guesting at Pixies Snippets Playground today, particularly because it is a Ruby's Memory challenge. Ruby was a little Westie rescued by Lynne In NI, one of the Playground's regulars. The little dog was a much-loved family member for many years before sadly passing in December last year. With permission from Lynne, Di from the Playground decided to set up a challenge in her memory, where players could donate prizes and Di would match the amount as a donation to the charity that rescued Ruby.

The challenge is to make a card using up snippets of paper and/or card and any other little snippets you might have lying about. My card uses the last of some free papers I got from this year's Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration promotion. 

I loved the leafy paper and this is the very last piece! It was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle. The sentiment is from WPlus9's Strictly Sentiments 2, stamped on an offcut of white card and cut out with a nesting label die from The Works. I've definitely stamped it wonkily but, as I said to Di, that seems appropriate for the times we're living in!

The flowers are cut out of another of the papers and I think they look so chubby and cheerful! There's always a design in a pack of papers that you're not so keen on and cutting elements out of it can often be a great way to use it.

As a little extra, I made a little Sour Cream container with another off-cut of paper and decorated it with one of the left-over cut-out flowers. These take very little paper and are so useful as gift wrapping for small gifts.

The prizes I donated are the sentiment set I used on my card, as well as the cutest little doggy set from Clearly Besotted called Dog Years.  To win them, you simply need to complete three steps:

• Click HERE to go to The Snippets Playground

• Use the Linky Tool there to enter ONE card using snippets of designer paper and/or card

• Leave a comment stating that you'd like to enter the prize draw. 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Dawn's Occasions challenge at Watercooler Wednesday. Addicted to Stamps and More also have an Any Occasion challenge so I'm also playing along there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

About four months ago, we met a little dog on the fields at the back of our house. She was found with her siblings in a cardboard box, abandoned on a Romanian street, and was rescued, brought to England and homed with a lady who lives locally. When we met this pup, she was terrified, hiding in a hedge and barking hysterically. I have never known any dog be able to resist Eva though and, sure enough, this little dog quickly understood that she was no threat. Humans though were a different matter and the dog made it quite clear that I was to keep my distance. It has been four months since we first met this dog and I can report that yesterday, for the first time, she came up to me, tail wagging, and allowed me to pet her. I am as proud as can be!

Sending hugs,

Little cupcake shaped treat boxes - Stampin' Up artisan blog hop

What amazing creations my team mates from the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team made for March - and we haven't finished yet! Get ready to climb aboard for another crafty hop round the world!

INTRODUCING THE NO BAKE CUPCAKE!
For my project this week I've made a little something to help someone celebrate a birthday. Come and see:

I can imagine popping this on a colleague's desk, to surprise them when they arrive at work!

Isn't this the cutest little fairy cake?! It's easy to make with card stock and punches and the icing on the cake (yes, the pun IS intended!) is the gorgeous 'sprinkles' design from the Birthday Bash speciality designer paper pack topped with a pom-pom trim 'cherry'.

The cake is even cuter when you take off the top and discover...

... a single Ferrerro Rocher chocolate nestling inside! Very understated!

I made the coordinating card with the Balloon Bash stamp set. The candles on the stamp were coloured with markers and stamped in a row; the card was finished with the wonderful 'celebrate' banner from one of the other stamps in the set.


If you'd like to have a go at making the cupcake favour box, it's very quick and simple to make - I've made a short video to show you how.



I know you'll be excited to see what the talented Allison Okamitsu has to show you today. Click the button below to hop over and see!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY CUPCAKE SET 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

Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe £6.25	2013-2015 In Color Stampin' Write Markers £11.75	Blossom Punch £15.50	1-3/8" Circle Punch £14.25
1-3/4" Circle Punch £15.50	Birthday Bash Specialty Designer Series Paper £11.50	Balloon Bash Photopolymer Stamp Set £23.95	Tea Lace Paper Doilies £2.75

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.

I'm really enjoying having my daughter home for the holidays. Yesterday she had me in stitches describing what happens when she phones home on the land line and her father picks up the phone:

DD: Hello, it's me!
OH: Who is this?
DD (indignantly): It's me, your daughter!
OH: Oh hello, it's daddy here!"

See you tomorrow,

Get your Stampin' Up stash for less!

Every Wednesday, Stampin' Up announces seven or eight products that are reduced in price FOR ONE WEEK ONLY! (You'll find them each week under the Special Offers tab at the top of my blog - scroll down to make sure you see ALL the offers.) This week's deals are all about embossing folders, ribbon and the lovely, zingy colour Crushed Curry!

There's nothing like the addition of an eye-catching ribbon to up the excitement factor of your gifts and Stampin' Up's brilliant coordination means you don't have to waste precious crafting time searching for matching ribbon! Here the gorgeous Crushed Curry striped grosgrain ribbon has been used as a belly band to contrast with the fabulous sunshine pattern from the Sweet Dreams designer paper pack.

Shades of yellow look wonderful but Crushed Curry works brilliantly as an accent colour too...

... as you can see in this card I made last year, using the fab hexagon outline and sentiment from Geometrical - an under-used stamp set in my opinion!

Embossing adds lots of lovely texture to your projects and it's worth making a collection of folders - particularly at these amazing prices!

This elegant card and favour box were embossed with the reduced Mosaic folder and decorated with Old Olive and gold accents.

And did you spot the little bee tag on the gift I showed you first?

I used the Baby Bumblebee single stamp on p.39 of the spring/summer catalogue and of course it cried out for a Crushed Curry background embossed with the reduced Honeycomb folder!

I hope you've enjoyed these projects and have been inspired to add some of these bargains to your stash!

• Prefer to get your goodies for free? Choose free stamp sets and accessories as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion. Click here for details

GO SHOPPING FOR WEEKLY DEALS NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget, until 31st March, you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Argyle Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.50 £5.63	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry £6.25 £4.69	Chocolate Chip 3/4" Chevron Ribbon £8.25 £6.19	Crushed Curry 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon £8.25 £6.19
Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.50 £5.63	Modern Mosaic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.50 £5.63	Very Vanilla 5/8" Satin Ribbon £6.25 £4.69

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.

It's funny how we see colour in different ways. This, for example, is Eva.

I call her my beautiful Champagne Princess or my Golden Treasure! Yesterday, I overheard my eldest son (who loves her to bits) call her 'The Beige Beast'!

Have a lovely weekend won't you. I'll be back on Tuesday when I'll be thinking of spring colours! Hope to see you then,

A Sheltering tree with sympathy - Stampin' Up artisan blog hop

Hello and welcome to another Stampin' Up artisan blog hop. As usual, the team has loads of ideas to inspire you - so let's get started!

SENDING SYMPATHY WITH SHELTERING TREE
Cards and gifts are not always celebratory and this week I want to show you a little card and gift I sent to a friend when she was knocked for six after the death of her little cat.

I used the beautiful Sheltering Tree stamp set for a sombre card and took it round to my friend with a gift of snowdrops, which I thought she might want to plant as a memorial.

The pot of flowers was wrapped in white tissue paper and fit perfectly in one of the 9 x 9 x 6.4 cm kraft gift boxes. I kept the decoration very simple, adding just a pretty seam binding bow and a garden marker cut with the Handpicked framelits dies.

The card uses just stamps and ink, my favourite kind of card! I layered the images to create the scene, using the leafy image to create a vaguely bokeh effect. The trees were stamped in a variety of neutrals giving a misty look.

There are lots of useful sentiments in the Sheltering Tree set but again, I wanted to keep it simple so I used the 'thinking of you' greeting. With this kind of card, the stamped image takes centre stage so I simply scored and sponged ink over the edges of the panel and pasted it onto my card front.

The loss of a pet can be devastating but I hope this project brought my friend a little comfort.

Now, I know my talented friend Allison Okamitsu has something fab to show you and she's next on the blog hop! Just click the button below.

YOU CAN BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS PROJECT 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

Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Wild Wasabi 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon £6.25	Handpicked Framelits Dies £20.95	Kraft Gift Box £2.75
Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95

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.

Forgive me if I'm a little bleary today. We enjoyed a heady evening of drama and dancing at my youngest son's school last night and watched him and his friends lift the cup for Best Performance. Off I went to Mumland! Honestly, who needs the Oscars?!

See you tomorrow when I'll have a round up of the week's Stampin' Up special offers :)