Another way with Stippled Blossoms

You may just get a bit fed up with hearing me go on about how gorgeous Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms is... I keep thinking of new things to do with it and loving it even more! If you're after a showy bloom, that large flower is a must but the smaller flower is quite capable of carrying a card too. Come and see:

My usual thing is stamping a panel and mounting it onto a plain card base but I decided to turn that idea on its head for this card!  I stamped a floral design over the card base with the solid flower and small leaves, then placed a plain panel over the top featuring just the sentiment, a fussy cut flower, a scored frame and plenty of white space.

You really do have to get some of these little dahlias - quite a bit of the time it took to make this card was spent squealing over them! They come in all the latest in-colours and are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! The fussy cut flower is given more importance than the background ones by having the detailed line image stamped over the top in a darker colour. (I used Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple which make a perfect pair) and by giving it a dimensional centre.

This happy birthday from Curly Cute makes a good strong focus to the card. There are rumours that this wonderful set of sentiments might retire quite soon so I would advise you to get it soon if you're a fan!

I thought I might link this card up as a second entry to Addicted to CAS where the challenge is Birthday and the fabulous new (to me) CAS on Sunday where the team is looking for Pastel Pretties.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Curly Cute, Summer Silhouettes (background flower centres)
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Garden Green, Summer Starfruit
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored tool, paper snips, In colour dahlias, 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.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

It still appears to be winter in Buckingham this week but what I don't understand is that the garden has decided to ignore this and press on regardless. "The garden needs an assault," said my husband yesterday. "Salt?" I said, mis-hearing him and thinking of triffids. "Isn't that a little drastic?!" 

I'll have more floral loveliness to show you tomorrow I think. See you then,

Mixing chevrons with butterflies

I often find the Dynamic Duos colour challenges quite er... challenging! But that really is the point of a challenge - to push you creatively. This week's Daffodil Delight and Baja Breeze combination certainly pushed me - come and see what you think:

It seemed the perfect opportunity to bring out this zingy chevron paper from Stampin' Up's  Sunshine and Sprinkles range. I rather liked the contrast between the edgy paper and these traditional butterflies from the Kindness Matters stamp set. They're stamped in Baja Breeze ink and are given a bit of extra colour using a blender pen and definition with a marker.

And then I cut them all out - I know you'll think I'm quite mad but it was very peaceful sitting in the sunshine with some stamped images and my lovely sharp paper snips!

The sentiment from Curly Cute was inked up with versamark and then Baja Breeze ink before heat embossing with clear embossing powder.

This is the colour palette I was working from today (right) and I must say, it's grown on me! I'm also linking to Make My Monday, where the lovely Suzi B has chosen the theme 'Anything that Flies'.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Kindness Matters, Curly Cute
Ink: Baja Breeze
Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals Ivory
Other: Sunshine and Sprinkles designer paper, Baja Breeze marker, blender pen, versamark, 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.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

Yesterday morning, there was cry from my daughter's room: "Help me Mummy! I'm at the crossroads of destiny!" I wandered in. "What's the matter?" I asked. "Should I wear tights or not?" she fretted, rooting about in the tights drawer. "I wouldn't," I said. "It'll be hot today." She dived into her wardrobe. "And what shoes should I wear?" We sorted the shoes. On her way out of the front door, she stopped and turned back. "Or should I wear socks?" she said. "Just go to school!" I said. "Never mind the crossroads - this is more like the Spaghetti Junction of destiny!" The funny thing is that I had a vision of her being a feisty three-year-old, with a very clear idea of what she wanted to wear and no intention of letting me get involved!

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I'll be back with a fast card. Do come and join me!

Free stamps from Stampin' Up!

Just in case you hadn't heard, Stampin' Up's Sale-a-bration promotion is on at the moment and if you'd like to set up your own Stampin' Up business it really is the best time to join as you'll get so much more in your starter kit. It's a great time to go shopping too as you can get all sorts of fabulous goodies for free! I'm enjoying road-testing the free stamp sets at the moment and Madison Avenue is my current obsession.  I've made some note cards for today using the set - come and have a look:

Don't you just love these pretty stylised flowers?! The Itty Bitty punch pack is the natural partner of this set and I used the four-petalled flower punch to create centres for them. Markers always make your stamps more versatile - I've coloured just one pair of leaves on the leaf image and used my stamp-a-majig to position them on my card front. The same marker was used to add detail to the leaves and to mark in a stem.

I used the whole leaf image for the plant in this card and stamped a different flower image from the set on top.  I love the simplicity of this design!

This line of four flower shapes looks great stamped in rows. I've coloured the insides of the shapes with markers and stamped the decorative centres on top.

You can do so much with this wonderful set and I'm only just getting started!

Here's what you'll need to make this card

Stamps: Madison Avenue (free with Sale-a-bration), various sentiments 

Ink: Garden Green, Tangerine Tango, Summer Starfruit 

Card stock: Very Vanilla, scrap of Garden Green

Other: Itty Bitty punch pack, Basic Rhinestones, 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.

• DON'T FORGET TO ADD ONE OF THESE FREE SALE-A-BRATION ITEMS FOR EVERY £45 YOU SPEND

We took a trip to beautiful Oxford yesterday as my daughter needed to go there for part of her art project. The sun shone for us and we had a lovely time exploring the city and visiting the museums. On the way back I broke into a song which has always amused me: "Keep your mind on your drivin', keep your hands on the wheel and keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead. We're havin' fun sittin' in the back seat kissin' and a huggin' with Fred!" My daughter laughed and told me that when she was small I used to sing only the first part of that song and she always thought it was an informative piece about driving! 

It looks as if we've swapped the snow for wind and rain so it's waterproofs at the ready for the week ahead! See you tomorrow,

3 minute Bloomin' Marvellous notelets

Have you been drooling over all the wonderful items you can get for free during Sale-a-bration? (You can see them all here.) We certainly are spoilt for choice with 17 different items including stamp sets, embossing folders, papers, card stock embellishments, punches, and even the much-loved diagonal score board! There's no limit to how many you can get, so you can start a collection if you like! (Email me here if you'd like me to place your order.)

My favourite Sale-a-bration stamp set so far (I always change my mind as I use each one fully!) is Bloomin' Marvellous and for my Three Minute Thursday slot today I've used it in the simplest way to make postcard-style thank you notes. Come and have a look:

I love this little humming bird and you know what I'm like about birds carrying things about (see my blog banner) - he was bound to pick a leaf up eventually!

You can see it a little more clearly in this photo. These are such simple images but the distressed texture gives them a lovely bit of dimension.

This is such a quick way to make a thank you note - cut a sheet of A4 card stock into four, score a line towards the top of one of the pieces, stamp the design and there you are! You can actually make quite a few of these in three minutes!

Here's what you'll need to make these thank you notes
Stamps: Bloomin' Marvellous, Curly Cute
Ink: Gumball Green, Island Indigo
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored, 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.
• DON'T FORGET TO ADD ONE OF THESE FREE SALE-A-BRATION ITEMS FOR EVERY £45 YOU SPEND

Goodness, it's been a busy few days! I think it's time to relax on the sofa, put my feet up with a nice cup of tea and take a look at the Sunday papers! But not on this sofa I think...

My youngest son, who made this, informs me it's a snowfa!

See you tomorrow,

Papaya Collage emboss/resist

So far I've been pretty restrained with my Papaya Collage stamp set because that's the kind of girl I am (although there are those that would tell you different!) But today I've gone all out in a frenzy of feminine gorgeousness! Come and have a look:

I chose a colour palette of Crumb Cake, Gumball Green and Primrose Petals and went for a dreamy, vintage feel. A lacy white mat, flowing script, a shimmery butterfly, a seam binding bow, pearls - what didn't I use?!

The swirly En Français background stamp is perfect for the emboss/resist technique and teams well with  the ornate frame in Papaya Collage. I can tell that fern is going to be very well-used in the Craft Square Metre too and I love it in the new Gumball Green! The Scallop Trim border punch was used to create the layered edging.

The sentiment is from the wonderful Curly Cute set and I've used the soft Crumb Cake seam binding to underline it. Finishing touches include pearls, the stunning butterfly from Papaya Collage, and a mist of Primrose Petals using the colour spritzer tool.

Here's a close up of that pretty butterfly, shimmering with a touch of dazzling diamonds glitter.

Well, it was great fun romping about with this card but you know, I really am a CAS girl at heart!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Papaya Collage, En Français, Curly Cute
Ink: Primrose Petals, Crumb Cake, Gunball Green, River Rock, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Other: Basic Pearls, Crumb Cake seam binding, Scallop Trim border punch, versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, markers, Colour Spritzer 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. 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.

When my daughter was very small, she liked to 'do' my hair. I was a very good mummy and kept very still while she tugged and brushed and combed and twisted my hair into a comedy hairstyle, but it took ALL my self control to sit and let her add slides and ribbons and scrunchies and the kitchen sink and the cat (well okay, perhaps not the last two things but you get my point!)

Thank you for visiting me today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you very soon.
Hugs,

Make a Mitten - in three minutes

No, not an actual mitten! Make a Mitten is the name of one of the new stamp sets in the autumn/winter catalogue - you may have seen the card I made yesterday using it. Making cards with this set and its coordinating wheel are a lot quicker than getting the knitting needles out and they can be distinctly autumnal as well as wintery. Come and have a look:

I made my own multi-coloured ink pad for these cards by folding a baby wipe in four and covering it in drops of ink from my re-inkers, but once I'd done that these cards were very quick: a couple of swipes on the homemade pad with the wheel, stamp and cut out the mittens, add the sentiment and assemble!

The mittens on this design were stamped in Always Artichoke on Certainly Celery card stock. I cut mine out with paper snips - it's quite quick - but, if you hate fussy cutting, there is a punch which cuts out the right-hand mitten and you can always stamp onto the punched shape to get the left-hand one.

The second design is perfect for a November birthday and suitable for a male too! I sponged over the background on this one...

... and topped it with mittens stamped in the homemade pad, cut out and sponged for a bit of definition.

The sentiments on both cards are from Curly Cute - which I think is quite oddly named. I can see the curliness but what's cute about it?! But then again, I'm sure people say that about me...

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Make a Mitten, Curly Cute (sentiment), Nicely Knit (wheel)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive re-inkers, Early Espresso and Always Artichoke ink pads
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Naturals Ivory
Other: Paper snips, stamp-a-majig, Mitten builder punch (optional)

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 - Sunday 30th is the last day to order from the Retirement Lists. 

I had a go at knitting a jumper once. It was an interesting experience - I ended up with a sleeve. I never wore the sleeve. I think that sums up that little foray into the noble art of knitting!

I'll be back tomorrow with an experiment with one of my older sets. Do come back and see if it's worked!

Summer butterflies with Creative Elements

Once, when I was a young girl, long ago in ancient times (as my children would say!), I went on a romantic summer holiday on the Greek island of Paros and the colours of today's card remind of it... Come and have a look:

I started by stamping the background stamp from The Open Sea onto a Naturals Ivory card base and topping it with a panel which had been brayered with Island Indigo ink. I stamped over it with the stunning flourish from Creative Elements using versamark and heat embossed it using gold embossing powder.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this Beautiful Wings embosslits die as these pretty embossed butterflies are a favourite embellishment of mine. I came up with the combination of Night of Navy with Island Indigo and gold by accident and I love it!

This fabulous Curly Cute sentiment fits in well with the flourishes and draws the eye across the width of the card.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: The Open Sea, Creative Elements, Curly Cute
Ink: Island Indigo, Night of Navy
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Night of Navy
Other: Brayer, Night of Navy marker, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, versamark,  gold embossing powder, heat tool, 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. The set is also available to buy for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

My youngest son flabbergasted us last week by informing us that in just two years time he'd be a teenager! Not just yet though - he still runs around making explosion noises when he thinks we're not watching!

There'll be no Masculine Monday next week but instead I'll have something tasty-looking for you! Have a fabulous weekend and I'll see you then.

Beyond the Garden huge flower

One of my favourite paper ranges of this year has been the Beyond the Garden range with its gorgeous florals. Here I used just a strip of it to embellish my card along with matching plain card stock:

Yes, it's another of my layouts with large flowers - I love them! The Curly Cute sentiments all work beautifully with this scale - and I have to ask myself why on earth did I leave it so long to acquire this set?!

The flower is made with the faux suede technique (punch a flower with the blossom punch, run it through a crimper several times to break down the fibres in the card stock, peel the flower into two). The insides of the two layers look all soft and tactile like suede and, when crumpled up and fastened together with a brad, make lovely flowers. This beautiful brad is from the Circle Ice range of brads and I don't think it'll be available for much longer...

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Curly Cute
Ink: Basic Black and Pear Pizzazz marker for the stem
Card stock: Pacific Point
Other: Blossom punch, Circle Ice brad, Beyond the Garden designer paper, 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. The set is also available to buy for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

Last week I went to my zumba class and only realised when I got there that I was wearing flip flops! Do you think I might need a holiday?!

By the way, I made some matching notebooks to go with this card and I'll show you those tomorrow.

See you then,

Another 3 minute Reason to Smile

It's Three Minute Thursday here and today I have another quick way to use the gorgeous Reason to Smile stamp set. Come and see:

This has to be one of my most used layouts I think! It's perfect for this technique: I masked off a strip on the card front with post it notes, stamped the small outline flower repeatedly and coloured the flower centres using a marker (no need to worry about being too exact!)

After removing the masks I scored the edges of the panel with my Simply Scored board and finished with this lovely sentiment from Curly Cute.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Reason to Smile, Curly Cute
Ink: Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade
Card stock: Crumb Cake
Other: Lucky Limeade marker, Simply Scored, 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a Reason to Smile stamp set FREE, in your choice of wood or clear mount. The set is also available to buy for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

My oldest son has become insatiable when it comes to food! When he was small he ate like a bird and it was a job to get anything into him but now that he's become all manly if there's any food lying about he hoovers it up! My daughter summed it up at dinner the other evening. "I swear you only have two moods," she told him. "Hungry or stuffed!"

See you tomorrow!

Get your free Stampin' Up set today!

Yes, August is here and I'm delighted to say the fabulous new 2 step stamping Reason to Smile stamp set is now available - for this month only! You can get it FREE with an order of £60 or more or, if you prefer, you can buy it for £18.95 (wood mount) or £14.95 (clear mount).

I've used the set to make a gift set for a very special lady: at the end of last term, the parents of my youngest son's class clubbed together to get some vouchers for the children's wonderful teacher, and I was asked to make a card and a box to present them in. This is what I came up with:

Reason to Smile is perfect for making floral designs! I zinged this one up by stamping my woodgrain background stamp onto card stock in versamark and clear embossing it, before overstamping with my flowers and a leaf from Happiness Shared and colouring everything.

After cutting the the panel to use on my card I was left with this off-cut so I used it to make a matching envelope...

... and here are the card and envelope together! I needed a box for the vouchers so I stamped another panel...

... and used it to decorate the top of a box which was rustled up in a jiffy with my Simply Scored!

The fabulous ruffled ribbon in Wisteria Wonder was perfect for decorating the sides of the box. In this photo you can see the little indents I make with a circle punch to make it easier to take the lid off, and the little jewellery tag tied on with bakers twine.

The vouchers had come in a plain holder from the store and I used it to make an insert for my box so that I could use the ready-made tabs to hold the vouchers in place.

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

Stamps: Reasons to Smile (available during August only), Happiness Shared, Tiny Tags, Curly Cute, Woodgrain

Ink:  Concord Crush, Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder,

Card stock: Whisper White, Concord Crush

Punches: Jewellery Tag punch, square punch, 3/4" circle punch
Other: Markers, versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Simply Scored, stamp-a-majig, ruffled ribbon in Wisteria Wonder

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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount.

Yesterday we celebrated my lovely eldest son's 14th birthday. We ate out at his favourite 'eat as much as you like' buffet restaurant, although unfortunately he had cricked his neck so was in quite a bit of pain. He thanked us at the end of the evening but apologised for not doing justice to the food. "I only had five platefuls," he said, shaking his head regretfully.

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I'll have a very quick card for you. See you then!

Reason to Smile - free from Stampin' Up!

I'm still in catch-up mode but I just had to pop in and let you know about an exclusive stamp set,  called Reason to Smile, that will be available for the month of August only. You can buy it for £18.95 (wood mount) or £14.95 (clear mount) but if you place an order for £60 or more, you will get it ABSOLUTELY FREE!

I designed today's card for the lovely ladies in my Stampers 6 Club and as well as show-casing the new set, it uses some of the wonderful brads and ribbons that come free THIS month only with orders of £45 - yes, Stampin' Up are spoiling us with their special offers!

Reasons to Smile is a two step stamping set - ie you can stamp the outline images and then 'colour' them by overstamping with the solid image. You can use a stamp-a-majig to get the exact position but I like the look you get when the colour overlaps...

... like this! Aren't these flowers just gorgeous?! You can see how well the brad and ribbon goes with them too.

I do love a tag on a card. This one was stamped with a variety of the beautiful flowers in the Reason to Smile set. I've laid a sentiment strip across it using the fabulous Curly Cute set, and trimmed it with scallops cut with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch. The card base is embossed with hearts from the Adorning Accents set of folders.

And here are the cards all ready to go out with a little gift to members of my Stampers 6 Club. If you're interested in joining my club, there's a new group starting in September and there are a couple of places available. It's a great way of spreading the cost of your supplies over six months and you get free products of your choice in one of the months, all catalogues that come out during your membership free of charge, gifts and cards from me, the opportunity to get exclusive hostess items... Click here to find out more.

Here's what I used to make today's card:

Stamps: Reasons to Smile (available during August only), Curly Cute

Ink: More Mustard, Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso

Card stock: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Other: Markers,  Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Adorning Accents embossing folder set, free brad and ribbon set

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. Your free brad and ribbon set will be added automatically to any order of £45 or more.

I've had a busy week catching up with admin and trying to sort out school uniform for next year (I know it's crazy, but they run out of sizes if you leave it - ask me how I know!) The sun has been making up for lost time here in Buckingham too, just in time for the holidays, and I have some hot but happy children who seem to be living on ice cream!

I'll have lots more projects using Reason to Smile to show you next week so do pop back and have a look.

Hugs,