Don't miss out on Stampin' Up retiring bargains!

We all love a bargain don't we - and when it's a crafty Stampin' Up bargain we REALLY love it! A new stamp set always gets me excited. Imagine getting the gorgeous Geometrical stamp set, for example. - what would you do with it?

Create a simple design with the circle image perhaps? (ooh and you could also use this stamp to create a trendy bokeh look!)

Or maybe make a colourful border with those fab triangles? You could use a stamp-a-majig, as I did here, or you could make a quicker, easier version of this card using the large triangle punch, now HALF PRICE at £7.13! Woohoo - another bargain!

Or how about reinforcing that lovely 'cheer up buttercup' sentiment with some 'buttercups' created with the Petite Petals stamp set and coordinating punch?

Or layering in a fun hexagonal accent?

There are so many fun things to do with this set and I haven't even started on the arrows yet! And you know what I was saying yesterday about how fonts date? Well you'll be bang on trend with this one!

What a wonderful set this is - and now only £22.91 wood mount or just £16.46 in cling mount! But HURRY! These bargains are only available while stocks last!

SHOP FOR YOUR BARGAINS NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Geometrical Wood-Mount  £26.95 now £22.91	Geometrical Clear-Mount  £21.95 now £16.46	Large Triangle Punch £14.25 now £7.13
Petite Petals Clear Stamp Set £10.95	Petite Petals Punch £11.50	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig £10.95

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.

You'll be glad to know that Eva is now helping me with the laundry! When I say 'helping with the laundry' what I actually mean is that she gets excited when I take the basket of clothes into the kitchen and rummages around in the basket while I load the washing machine. She usually manages to filch a sock or two and go prancing off with it but when I call her back she comes back with them looking sheepish. She delicately gives me the socks when I ask her and then waits patiently for a treat. The laundry is one of her favourite things!

Tomorrow is Stampin' Up artisan design blog hop day! Do come and see what we've made won't you!

Geometrical buttercups

There are some lovely sentiments in Stampin' Up's Geometrical set as well as all those useful shapes and the one I've used today is just right for giving a boost to a friend. Come and see:

I laid down a Pear Pizzazz background on a square of watercolour paper using my largest aquapainter. This is so easy to do and looks so arty - give it a try! When my background was dry, I stamped the sentiment using Momento black ink.

The flowers are from Petite Petals and although they're not really buttercups, I hoped they'd give a buttercuppish vibe! I coloured them with my Daffodil Delight blendabilities - oh yes, my love affair with these fabulous alcohol markers continues!

To make the little tab, I used the Chevron punch, stapling it to the back of my panel. What a fun card to make! Do you know someone that could do with cheering up?

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Geometrical [clear] [133161]	Petite Petals Clear-Mount Bundle [134822]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment [130998]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Old Olive Assortment [130999]	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad [131180]
Aqua Painter [103954]	Chevron Border Punch [132154]	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550]	6 X 9 Watercolor Paper [122959]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]

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.

I am exhausted from careering up and down the country this weekend and so is someone else by the looks of things...

Budge up Tuppence!

See you tomorrow.

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.

Hooray! A male card for a gardener

My brother, Ray, celebrated his birthday last week. He's a lovely man who gets great pleasure from his garden, so I made this card for him:

It's unusual for me to combine lots of different stamp sets on one card but I used no fewer than four sets on this little scene! Can you spot them?

After sponging in 'earth' using a ripped piece of paper as a mask, I added grasses from Wetlands; the trowel from Tag It; speckles from Gorgeous Grunge; and a sentiment from Geometrical. When I first saw this sentiment I saw immediately how I could pick my brother's name out in a different colour and got very excited!

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

Stamps: Wetlands wood or cling, Tag It wood or cling
Gorgeous Grunge wood or cling, Geometrical wood or cling

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Pear Pizzazz classic inks, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Stampin' sponges, 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 ONE OF THESE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SETS WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

We're enjoying a heat wave here in Buckingham which, combined with all that rain we had in the spring, means the triffids in my garden are preparing to pounce! If I'm not back on Monday, you'll know what's happened...!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Create a Cupcake and cheer up (buttercup!)

Rustling up a batch of cupcakes has been known to raise my spirits in the past but now I have all sorts of dietary restrictions, baked cupcakes have lost their attraction. Stamped ones though, well that's a different matter! Here's a batch I decorated earlier:

Stampin' Up's Create a Cupcake stamp set and coordinating punch made producing these little cuties a doddle - and no washing up to be done either!

The cupcake cases were paper-pieced using one of the papers from the pretty Gingham Garden designer paper pack...

... and this fabulous sentiment would cheer anyone up, especially in a happy colour combination of Raspberry Ripple and Daffodil Delight!

I'll be linking this card up with Make My Monday where the theme is Food and Drink and CASual Friday's Three Thirds challenge which is looking for a group of three on a card.

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

Stamps: Create a Cupcake wood or cling, Geometrical (for the sentiment) wood or cling

Ink: Markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron

Other: Square framelits, Big Shot, Cupcake punch, Gingham Garden Designer Paper,  Basic Rhinestones, 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.

My family always manage to cheer me up. "Turn that frown upside down!" they'll say sarcastically to make me giggle. My daughter is learning quotes for her upcoming English exam, so her advice comes from none other than Billy Shakespeare: "Sigh no more ladies," she says soulfully. "Converting all your sounds of sorrow into hey nonny nonny!"

Hmm. Hey nonny nonny then and I'll see you tomorrow with a special gift project.

Geometrical goes soft

Last week a lovely friend of mine had a 'do' to celebrate her 50th birthday so naturally a special gift was called for. In my quest for the perfect piece of jewellery, I found a beautiful bracelet I thought she'd love - and it inspired me with the packaging too. Come and see:

Here's the card and wrapped gift, made using a soft Blushing Bride and Crumb Cake colour palette with touches of gold.

The card was stamped with the swirl from Stampin' Up's Everything Eleanor set (an invaluable addition to anyone's stash) and circles from Geometrical which reminded me of delicate rose petals.

I 'stamped off' some of the circles for a bit of depth and you can see that better in this close up. For that celebratary feel, I sprinkled the card with gold sequins - such a lovely embellishment and very on-trend!

The swirl leads the eye nicely down to the Birthday Wishes, one of the fabulous statement sentiments from Four You.

The bracelet came in a box with a hideously garish lid so I made a different one out of this subtle tone on tone design from the Designer Paper Stack. The box was tied up with soft Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon and I added a pretty rolled rose, made using the new Spiral Flower die from the spring/summer catalogue.

I knew you'd like a peek at that bracelet - isn't it beautiful? And you can see where the swirl idea came from!

I didn't want the gift to get damaged on the way to the party, so I popped it in a plain white bag, tied up with some of the gorgeous chevron ribbon and decorated with a coordinating tag. My goodness my Tag Topper punches are seeing some action - have you got yours yet?!

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

Stamps: Everything Eleanor wood or cling, Geometrical wood or cling,
Four You wood or cling

Ink: Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Basic Grey

Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz
Punches: Scallop Tag Topper, 2 step bird
Ribbon: Crumb Cake seam binding, Blushing Bride chevron ribbon, white bakers twine

Other: Spiral Flower die, Big Shot, envelope board (for rounding corners), Designer Series Stack in Neutrals, sequins, 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)

It was quite a treat to go out to eat at The Muddy Duck, a beautiful old pub with very fine food in a village not far from Buckingham (highly recommended if you're ever in the area.)

Arriving by horseback is optional of course!

Now, normally I'd suggest dropping in tomorrow for my usual Three Minute Thursday quick card, but this week, there'll be an exciting alternative instead! See you tomorrow when all will be revealed!