Easter blossoms, fruit and flowers

Well the title isn't entirely accurate as there's no fruit in today's post; there are plenty of flowers and blossoms though! I've been making last minute Easter cards and where better to find inspiration than the fabulous ColourQ site...

... where the palette this week is so soft and pretty and it was hard not to just go straight off and make the adorable little baskets in the inspiration photo! Come and see what I did make:

I was prompted to make a stamped aperture frame card after spotting this tutorial by the very talented Mynnette. Fruit and Flowers is just the right sort of set to do this kind of stamping and I used my markers directly on the stamps to create the multi-coloured images.

Adding punched flowers centred with brads gives a dimensional look to the frame and I used my favourite Easter sentiment from Easter Blossoms in the recess.

This wonderful stamp from the Just Believe set is one of my 'go to' images at springtime because the flowers make such great daffodils with just a few scribbles with a marker. I thought the daffs would make a nice contrast with the floral sentiment frame.

While I had the Just Believe stamp out, I made another card using the same colour palette.

 Peach Parfait, So Saffron and Pear Pizzazz are perfect for the daffodils so I added a Blushing Bride mat and also a little embossed die-cut butterfly.

I'll show you another quick Easter card I made at the eleventh hour. This one uses the wonderful blossom image from Easter Blossoms.

I used markers to colour the rubber of my stamp - this really is a favourite technique of mine, had you noticed?! - before stamping it onto card stock. The image was inked up again but with a darker pink for the blossom this time, and stamped in a slightly different position. I sponged around the image with a little Bashful Blue ink before mounting th panel onto a Crumb Cake base.

The 'Happy Easter' is from Teeny Tiny Wishes - the words have been stamped one on top of the other, which is easy to achieve with a stamp-a-majig. I cut the sentiment out with a 3/4" circle punch and sponged the edges before attaching to the card front.

Now, normally I would add a supply list so that you can see what you'd need to recreate these cards but there are a lot of cards today and my presence is being noisily demanded by some of my favourite people who would like to decorate an Easter tree please! So if you have any queries about what I've used, do let me know won't you and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. And if you'd like to place an order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. And don't forget to add a free pack of designer paper if your order is £45 or more (offer limited to one pack per qualifying order - click here for details).

Thanks for looking today. I will be back tomorrow when I'll have something rather special to show you, so don't miss that!

Easter Blossoms mothers day card

This month's theme over at Make My Monday is Spring and the particular challenge this week is to make a mothers' day card. I've still got my brayer out and have been dying to try the blossom from Easter Blossoms against a vivid spring sky, and I thought it would work well for this challenge. Come and see how it looks:

I've used the brayer/resist technique again, which always makes the image pop. The rubber on the stamp is coloured directly with markers and stamped onto Whisper White card stock a couple of times. I went over the image with a Versamark pen and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. When the water-based ink is brayered over the top, the image resists it.

I've been asked many times for my brayering tips so here they are:
• Make sure your brayer is inked evenly all the way round.
• Don't work directly on a hard surface - a thick pad of paper works for me
• Always start brayering just off the edge of your card stock to avoid harsh lines
• Expect to ink up loads and loads of times and keep blending!

I sponged the edges of my blossom panel with darker ink to emphasise the depth of the sky, then mounted it on White card stock trimmed with the eyelet border punch. A seam binding bow adds to the feminine look and contrasts nicely with the Bashful Blue card base.

Doesn't this sentiment from Petite Pairs made a lovely mothers day message? I used my markers to colour the rubber before stamping and then cut the image out with a 1 1/4" circle punch. A circle cut with a 1 3/8" punch makes a perfect mat for it and I've attached mine with dimensionals.

Here's what you need to make today's card:
STAMPS: Easter Blossoms, Petite Pairs
INK: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist
CARD STOCK: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz
OTHER: Subtles markers, Pear Pizzazz seam binding, Eyelet border punch, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, versamark pen, clear embossing powder, heat tool
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.
As part of the Sale-a-bration promotion, here until 31st March, you can choose a free stamp set or set of papers with EVERY £45 you spend. Click here to see all the fabulous Sale-a-bration freebies.


Last week I went to Northern Ireland to attend the funeral of my uncle - and I'm just thinking that the sentiment on my card today could have been his epitaph. He was a much loved and truly christian man and the amount of people paying their respects over the days after his death and at his funeral was phenomenal. Although he died quite suddenly, he had actually been ill with leukaemia for about six years. You never would have known it though: he just cheerfully got on with his life, popping in and out of hospital as if it were a social venue - and of course they loved him there. He was a real character who thoroughly enjoyed the company of others whether young or old, and as well as often instigating gatherings, he was the life and soul of them. He will be missed terribly.

Thank you for visiting me today and letting me ramble on. It's three minute Thursday here tomorrow so if you're looking for a quick card, this is the place to be! Hope to see you then,

Three Minute Thursday Easter Blossom

Good morning! It's Thursday and time for another quick card from me. Today's design uses a feature that's pretty popular at the moment - the banner. They look fantastic in strings across cards and as sentiment tags but they also make excellent backgrounds. Come and see how I've used mine:

An outsized banner like this makes a great background for a pretty emblem like this flourished flower from the Easter Blossoms set. I chose tone-on-tone striped papers from the Patterns range to make mine.

I inked the flourish with one colour, added definition with a darker toned marker and finished with a gem. The flourish was cut out with a circle punch and mounted on a larger circle with dimensionals. Think of all the colours you could make this versatile card in!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Teeny Tiny wishes

Ink: Marina Mist/Not Quite Navy or Perfect Plum/Elegant Eggplant

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla, scraps of Not Quite Navy or Elegant Eggplant

Other: Patterns designer paper stack in Subtles, markers, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, square punch, Basic rhinestones, stamp-a-majig

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.

Click here to see all the free Sale-a-bration sets and don't forget to let me know which ones you'd like - remember, you get one free item for EVERY £45 spent!

There won't be a post tomorrow as I've been called away unexpectedly but I hope to be back at the weekend so do call back soon. I really appreciate you spending your time here and would like to say a big thank you to my followers and to all those who leave me comments and emails - I love reading them!

Enjoy the rest of your week,

Easter Blossoms scallops

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays at the moment is to create a card using scallops. I love scallops - and I particularly like the look you get when you layer them. My favourite way to do that at the moment is to use the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch for a subtle frill. Come and have a look:

I brayered a background for that 'glorious technicolor' feel, made up a little scene with my Easter Blossoms stamp set and added the scalloped layers, the sentiment and the cross stitched embellishment. It reminds me of an illustration in a 50s children's book!

I love the small scale of the scallops!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Easter Blossoms

Ink: Pool Party, Certainly Celery, Basic Black

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Whisper White, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery

Other: Markers, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, white gel pen, black embroidery thread, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these supplies for you (except the embroidery thread!) 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. 

I showed this card to my daughter and mentioned that I'd brayered the background. "Brayering?" she said, "Are you a mule?!"

Thank you for dropping by today and for leaving your comments and emails. I really love receiving your feed-back and always do my best to return your visit. I'll be back tomorrow with one of my favourite kinds of cards. Hope to see you then,