The piercing bells! Using Embellished Events from Stampin' Up

I've been really excited by the wonderful new Christmas stamp sets in the Stampin' Up autumn/winter catalogue but sometimes it's nice to bring out the oldies and goodies! Come and see:

The panel on this card has been punched with the Decorative Label punch to make an aperture and I've added the beautiful bells from Embellished Events popped up on dimensionals.

I liked the idea of bells ringing to mark the beginning of the Christmas holidays and it gave me the chance to use one of my favourite sentiments from the Project Life stamp set Holiday Cheer - perfect for those December pages!

Well it's certainly been an eventful week, with broken down boilers and computers interspersed with settling our new puppy in, but I've been thinking about making this card ever since last weekend when I saw Less is More's Jingle all the Way theme and 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown's piercing challenge!

AND DON'T FORGET...
There is an amazing promotion on at the moment where you can actually get a Stampin  Up starter kit for just £74.25 - and be able to choose products worth up to £130 to put in it! What an amazing deal, whether you're keen to start a Stampin' Up business or simply enjoy a discount on these fabulous products - and perhaps the perfect early Christmas prezzie?! Do give me a call on 01280 820593 if you'd like to find out more, or click here to read all about it.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE TODAY'S CARD NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Embellished Events Wood Stamp Set £25.95

Decorative Label Punch £15.50

Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack £7.25

Project Life Holiday Cheer Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95

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.

I hope you've got a great weekend lined up. I shall be spending mine in the company of my favourite blonde beauty:

Here she is demonstrating the perfect retrieve. Hmm, I wonder if I could get her to show the boys how to 'go fetch' their laundry!

See you on Monday for more crafting fun,

Hugs,

Mothers Day card using Something for Baby by Stampin' Up

While I was making yesterday's card I noticed that the duck in Embellished Events was a similar design to the one in Something for Baby, only smaller. Perfect for mum and babies I thought, and set to work on today's card! Come and see:

How adorable are these ducks?! I coloured them with markers before stamping them, so that they could have cute orange beaks, and cut them out with one of my oval framelits. The same framelit was used to cut a piece of card stock for the pond too, trimmed with the small scallop blade on my Rotary Addition.

I went a bit framelit-tastic on this card! The card base was embossed using the next size up of oval (I describe how to do that in this post) and the sentiment was stamped and cut out with one of the Bitty Banners framelits.

• Check out the rest of my Something for Baby creations here - what a very versatile set this is!
• You can see more Embellished Events inspiration here.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Embellished Events wood or cling
Teeny Tiny Wishes wood or cling

Ink: Soft Sky, Tangelo Twist classic inks, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Lost Lagoon

Other: Ovals and Bitty Banners framelits, Big Shot, Small Scallop rotary blade

Click above to place an order 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.

After making this card I sat down at the computer. As I settled down to work, I asked my son to tidy his room. He usually makes a spirited attempt to get out of this task but on this occasion he was surprisingly quiet. When I turned round he was gone but I found this on the table:

Have a great weekend. I'll be back here on Monday - hope to see you then!

Baby toys on a Hardwood shelf

I haven't finished showing you cards made with Stampin' Up's fabulous new Something for Baby stamp set! Today's card is one of my favourite makes and I thought it would be fun for a tot's birthday. Come and see:

We had one of those stacking rings toys when my daughter was a baby. I decided to use it in a toy shelf scene so I coloured the rubber with markers, stamped it and cut it out (there are coordinating framelits to make this easy and you can buy the stamp and framelits in a bundle at 15% off!) I couldn't resist adding a friendly little face - after all, every child knows that toys come to life at night!

Some more toys were needed so I made a ball with the circle in Stampin' Up's Geometrical stamp set, shading the rubber with markers before stamping and cutting out. The pull-along duck comes from a hardworking stamp set called Embellished Events, a real all-rounder with images for every occasion and sentiments too. I added some bakers twine as the 'pull' for my duck toy.

The shelf was made by masking off a strip of the ever-useful Hardwood background stamp before stamping. I arranged the cut-out toys on the shelf and added a sentiment below it.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Hardwood wood or cling, Something for Baby wood or cling,
Embellished Events wood or cling

Ink: Brights markers, Crumb Cake marker

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Baby's First framelits, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine, 1" circle punch (for the ball), paper snips, Stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

Don't you love it when small children encourage you to let your imagination go while playing with them, only to pull you up short. My daughter's boyfriend has a cute baby sister who loves playing house, cooking on an imaginary stove and pouring out invisible cups of tea. Her brother, entering into the spirit of this on one occasion, asked if she'd like some porridge. She nodded enthusiastically so he folded his hands into a bowl shape and offered her some. She looked at him critically. "That's not porridge," she said. "That's just hands!"

See you tomorrow.

Life In the Forest at Christmas

You can never start too early - isn't that what they say about making Christmas cards? Well I'm willing to go along with anything that makes December less busy so whenever I get a festive idea, whatever the time of year, I go for it! Come and see:

The moment I saw Stampin' Up's Life in the Forest set, I was desperate to paper piece those gorgeous little fir trees - after I'd finished cooing over all the cute little animals in the set that is!

I used my fabulous Scalloped Tag Topper punch to make a tag for the card and positioned it on an angled piece of Tangerine Tango card stock. The tag top provided the perfect opportunity to add some of my stitched grosgrain ribbon, tied up with a little bakers twine!

Once I'd added the strip of washi tape and a sprinkling of Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango candy dots, the card was ready for the sentiment. I used a Melon Mambo marker to stamp a banner frame from Itty Bitty Banners, then used my stamp-a-majig to position a Christmas sentiment inside - you can see how to do this here in my short stamp-a-majig video tutorial:



There was no shortage of inspiration in Blogland today! The tag sketch at Retro Sketches, the fabulous colours at Dynamic Duos...

and last but not least, the nudge to get going with the cards from Sarn at Rudolph Day where the challenge is to make TWO festive cards! Did you think I'd forgotten? But no!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE TODAY'S CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Life in the Forest wood or cling, Itty Bitty Banners wood or cling,
Embellished Events (sentiment) wood or cling

Ink: Early Espresso plus Brights markers

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango smooth and Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi core'dinations, 

Other: Gingham Garden washi tape, Brights candy dots, Wild Wasbi stitched grosgrain ribbon, Early Espresso bakers twine, Designer Series paper stack in Subtles, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND

While I'm perfectly happy to think about Christmas cards I certainly don't want to see any snow until at least 23rd December. My children, on the other hand, would love it to snow so heavily they can't even get out of the front door - well not until it's been confirmed that school is closed anyway. They've only been back at school for a day!

See you tomorrow,

Raising a glass or three

Today is a sad Monday because my children have all gone back to school after half term - but the news that I was the winner at CAS(e) this Sketch last week with this card has cheered me up no end! I'm always inspired by the sketches there and this week there's another great one. Here's what I've made...

... and here's the sketch I was working from:

I knew I wanted to use the lovely champagne glasses from Stampin' Up's Embellished Events stamp set  and thought sequins and bubbles would form the right sort of shape.

I thought it was going to look a little too minimilist though - even for me!  - so I added interest with a split panel. I used a combination of lovely textured core'dinations card stock and Soft Sky smooth and stamped the glasses over both.

Have you noticed those curved corners on the panel? My envelope board did those - that board has to be one of the most useful items in my Craft Square Metre!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Embellished Events wood or cling, Express Yourself (hostess set)

Ink: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango

Card stock: Whisper White core'dinations, Soft Sky Smooth card stock

Other: Envelope board (used to round corners), sequin trim, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

We had a lovely half term but why is it that everything always gets crammed in at the end? It all started in the most relaxing way but now we all need a holiday after the holiday!

See you tomorrow,

Gift wrapping with my Stampin' Up stash

Some of my Christmas presents needed to be wrapped and sent off last week and I thought you might like to see them.

Don't they look exciting?! I didn't have long to prepare them but my Stampin' Up stash is perfect for prettying up parcels - come and take a closer look:

This is my favourite! I wrapped the gift in Season of Style designer paper which instantly gives a luxurious look, adding a tag (which is actually a Season of Style journaling tag) and finishing with Cherry Cobbler stitched edge grosgrain ribbon tied in a neat flat knot.

This large parcel is wrapped in recycled wrapping paper but is given a special touch with Burlap ribbon tied up in a great big bow.  The tag is made with Crumb Cake card stock and stamped with Festive Flurry snowflakes in Real Red ink.

I showed you this tag the other day - I'd made lots of them! It's stamped with an image from the Tag It stamp set and cut out with the coordinating framelit. I re-used some striped gift wrap and tied it up with white stitched grosgrain ribbon. By the way, the Tag it set is not only a great purchase for your creativity but also to help others: for every set sold, SU donates £2 to RMHC, a charity which provides accommodation to enable families to stay together when a sick child has to travel to get medical treatment.

This is a great tag for children's parcels and is very quick to make using your circle punches. I stamped the fabulous hat image from Embellished Events in Real Red ink on Whisper White card stock, cut it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch and mounted it on a larger red circle cut out with the 2 1/2" circle punch. The pom pom is a 1/2" circle.

This paper had been around for a very long time but it's come into it's own with a Wild Wasabi tag stamped with an image from the Four Frames set and cut out with the coordinating Decorative Label punch. I added some lush stitched satin ribbon in Gumball Green to finish.

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.

A beautifully dressed parcel really can make a impact and the same is true of clothes it seems! My husband came back from a weekend away and noticed my outfit immediately. "You look nice!" he said. And then spoilt the effect a bit by adding "You look like a Caramel bar!"

See you tomorrow,

A Joyful Christmas with Embellished Events

I don't know if you've noticed but I've just realised how obsessed I've become with apertures! Why would that be? Well it's got to be down to my magnetic platform which has made using framelits idiot-proof (yes folks, even I can use them properly now!) Come and have a look at today's aperture project:

This sentiment from Joyful Christmas is a beauty and I noticed that it fits rather nicely in this framelit from the Chalk Talk pack. I cut the aperture into some Crumb Cake core'dinations card stock and glued the stamped sentiment behind it before mounting onto a Crumb Cake card base made with smooth card stock for a lovely bit of contrast.

My embellished Events stamp set was out on my desk from yesterday's quick laughing hat card and I thought the bells would fit the sentiment perfectly - church bells are such a joyful sound I always think. This set was designed to appeal to those of us that love an embellishment so I added gems for the bell clappers (plus an extra one to satisfy my need for a group of three!) and attached a stitched satin bow.

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

Stamps: Embellished Events, Joyful Christmas

Ink: Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple

Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake smooth and core'dinations

Other: Chalk Talk framelits, Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, basic rhinestones, paper snips, 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.

I have a houseful of guests as I type this and will be enjoying a long weekend of family jollifications. We will be cooking and chatting and partying - and getting into practice for Christmas! Hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here very soon.

Having a laugh with Embellished Events

We're already a week into November so it's definitely time to get serious about Christmas cards now. Every Thursday I post a fast card for my Three Minute Thursday slot and today I've made a festive card using Embellished Events, a set that will be your pal all year round! There's nothing serious about this cute card though - come and see:

This little santa hat always makes me smile with its Ho Ho Ho sentiment - the sentiment is attached to the image so you can see how speedy it is to make this card!

I used dimensionals to mount my laughing hat on a snippet of designer paper from the Seasons of Style range and added a candy dot embellishment. Stampin' Up candy dots are the most fabul.... Pardon? Oh. Apparently I've already mentioned how fabulous they are 183 and a half times since last week!

I've been using up the snippets on my desk today so maybe I can pop over to Di's snippety playground. It's a bit nippy noodles outside but I've got my fleecy vest and voluminous bloomers on, and a spot of hopscotch is sure to warm us up!

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

Stamps: Embellished Events

Ink: Real Red

Card stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

Other: Candy dots, Season of Style designer paper, 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.

When my youngest son was at playgroup he was very fond of one of the play leaders and told me he was going to marry her. "Really," I said. "And what will you wear at your wedding?" My son was deep in his hat phase at the time and replied that he would wear his fireman's hat. "Won't you be a little chilly in just a fireman's hat?" I suggested. "Oh no," he said. "I'll wear pants as well!"

See you tomorrow,

A Postcard for Christmas

This week I've been show-casing Stampin' Up's Postcard stamp and today I've come up with a way for it to go all festive! Come and see:

The woodcut-style of the top of the Postcard image fascinates me and I love the sort of label bit that says postcard. It occurred to me that it could make a great garland and the label bit could hold a Christmas sentiment - and so this card happened!

I used a marker to colour the top part of the stamp and positioned it onto my panel using a stamp-a-majig. The sentiment from Embellished Events was stamped and cut out before being 'pinned' on top of the word postcard with some gems. I'm really pleased at how well it fits!

My festive garland was crying out for some decorations and what better ones to use than the new baubles from Christmas Collectibles?! I adore the vintage style of these! They're beautifully curvy but cutting them out is a doddle as they have a coordinating punch - love it!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Postcard, Christmas Collectibles, Embellished Events (sentiment)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler classic ink, Gumball Green marker
Card stock: Cherry Cobbler core'dinations, Very Vanilla smooth card stock
Other: Christmas Ornament punch, Basic rhinestones, 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.


Yesterday morning at breakfast my eldest son announced that his school trousers were too long, so I had an amusing 15 minutes taking them up for him before he went to school. What IS it about my children?!!! (But I love them to bits!)

See you tomorrow for a three minute-ish Postcardy card.

Hugs,