Tag you're... feeling better!

Hello crafting pals!

It's that time of year when the sniffles start and everyone starts stocking up on tissues. Time for a Get Well card I think! Let's face it, we know it's going to come in handy at some stage! Come and see:

This cheerful card features a striped tag from a Stampin' Up Tags and More Accessory Kit. I stamped a sentiment from a retired hostess set (Express Yourself) onto a banner left over from another kit and attached it to the tag with dimensionals.

A spray of flowers from Concorde and 9th's Enjoy it All were inked up with markers, stamped and fussy cut, and I slipped a couple of die-cut leaves and some gold thread behind it.

The tag was attached to a snippet of textured Daffodil Delight card stock with some staples I'd coloured black for another project. I added a few black enamel dots too.

This card came about because I had a peek at the As You See It challenge this week and saw that LeAnne has come up with a card recipe I couldn't resist playing along with!

I'm also linking up with Pixie's Snippets Playground as I used lots of left over bits and pieces to make this card :) Eva and I will be popping round with a get well bone for Dudley and the pups can go zoom-tastic round the playground!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
No sooner have I said goodbye to one of my sons than I get the other one back! My eldest son has come to stay as he is working nearer to home at the moment. It's so lovely to have him here and there's someone else that is delighted too...

Eva adores her family and clearly misses them all. When they come home for visits, she runs to them making little delighted sobbing noises (we call them hen noises) and doing little bunny hops because she wants to jump up but knows she isn't allowed to do that.

Thanks for coming to visit me today. I'm sending hugs to anyone who's feeling a bit under the weather and hope you feel better soon. I'll be back tomorrow with another crafty project - hope to see you then!

Snippety splits!

Hello crafting pals!

I've been busy using up some of the left over snippets and am feeling quite smug! Here's what I made today:

You may recognise some of the essentials from this card (scroll down past challenge image) but it's taken on quite a different look hasn't it?! I'd stamped and fussy cut far too many of those pretty flowers (from Stampin' Up's Soft Spring) and it would have been a shame to waste them. I even rescued a ruined card base, sticking an off-cut of Pink Pirouette card stock to the front.

Do you like the split in the front? I was inspired As You See It, where the latest challenge is called Split Decision and this is the sketch:

I flipped the sketch, angled the horizontal element a little and took the split part of the title literally, stamping an old Clearly Besotted sentiment in the gap. The edges were finished off with a scored line.

The best part of using all those snippets, of course, is that I'll be able to skip over to Pixie's Snippet Playground where I'll be able to say hello to the playmates and Miss after a long time away. Will bring Eva with me - nothing in the Rools about whether we're allowed big floofy puppers with us and Eva wants to just CHECK to see if anyone has any snax she can share and also say a gentle hello to Dudley!

Thanks for rootling about here today and I hope to see you again soon!

Hugs,

Make a card for a male using designer paper from Stampin' Up

CALLING ALL BARGAIN HUNTERS!
Before I show you today's card,  I must just remind those of you that love a bargain that Stampin' Up's Stamp Stock and Save promotion is ending later this evening! If you'd like to take advantage of discounted prices on basics like card stock, envelopes and ink pads or selected stamp sets, click here to browse the Stamp Stock and Save section of my shop or contact me if you'd like me to help you.

A GET WELL KISS FOR A MALE
Men are notorious for being terrible patients (although, apparently they're NEVER ill!) I don't know quite how that works so I've made a masculine get well card just in case! Come and see:

I rather enjoyed cutting things out of designer paper while making my box of thank you cards here so I thought I'd do it again! This cute chap turns up on the border of a fabulous design in the Motley Monsters designer paper stack:

I love this paper pack - and don't be fooled into thinking it's only good for halloween! I made these birthday cards with these papers for example and every single paper in this pack is perfect for other occasions.

• By the way, if you love designer paper, now is the perfect time for you to join Stampin' Up! New demonstrators that join before 24th October will get to choose a pack of paper EVERY month for SIX months after signing up - and that's on top of all the other benefits!

Here's a close up of my poorly little monster. I'm just about to take his temperature - say 'ahhh' little monster! Oh no, I think he's in pain! What he needs is a big kiss...

... to make it better! I love the way you can stamp the first half of this double sentiment on your card front and the other half inside the card! It's from Petite Pairs, the set with lots of double sentiments - AND it's one of the stamp sets that's been reduced by 20%! It's now available at £21.63 wood mount or £17.46 cling mount - but hurry, the offer ends TODAY!

I used the fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches to make this card so I'll be linking up over there.

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

Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper £9.95	Color Me Autumn Designer Washi Tape £4.50	Petite Pairs - Clear-Mount Stamp £20.95
Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Whisper White A4 Card Stock £7.50	1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch £14.25

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.

When my children were little I used to call them poorly puddings when they were ill to cheer them up. I remember once finding my two-year-old eldest son sitting on his bed looking very woebegone, with his big blue eyes filled with tears. "Mummy," he said. "Will you wipe away my ears?"

There'll be more crafting fun here tomorrow - see you then!

Get well soon with World Treasure from Stampin' Up

In all the excitement about the upcoming new Stampin' Up annual catalogue, it would be easy to miss a treasure on the Retiring List - like the beautiful World Treasures stamp set I've used today. Lots of the current Stampin' Up stamp sets and accessories won't be available after 30th June, and some have been reduced! So don't miss out on your favourites - and when you place an order for £50 or more with me before the end of June, I'll send you a brand spanking new Stampin' Up catalogue 2014-2015 free of charge! Click here to shop for retiring products.

LET'S GET STAMPIN'!

I've used an uplifting combination of Old Olive, Crushed Curry and Night of Navy for this get well card - come and see:

The stylised floral spray in this set is fabulous! I stamped it in Old Olive ink and added colour to the flower heads using a sponge dauber. The sentiment was borrowed from another favourite Stampin' Up stamp set, Hopeful Thoughts, and I used my stamp-a-majig to position it exactly where I wanted it.

I still can't get over how brilliant it is to have all your inks, markers, card stock, designer paper, embellishments and everything else coordinating - it's one of my favourite parts of Stampin' Up products! I chose Night of Navy for the sentiment and the candy dots in the centres of the flowers.

• Click here for more World Treasures inspiration.

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

Stamps: World Treasures (retiring) wood or cling, Hopeful Thoughts wood or cling,

Ink: Old Olive, Night of Navy, Crushed Curry classic ink,

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory

Other: Regals candy dots, sponge daubers, corner rounder, 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.

Some of the items in the annual Stampin' Up catalogue are retiring to make way for new products. Don't miss out on your favourites! Some of these items have been discounted too - check availability by clicking on the banners below and click here to buy retired items from my online shop.

The exams are finally over and there is a holiday feeling in our house, heightened by the sunshine and only slightly tempered by England leaving the World Cup early. The players were predictably described as 'gutted' by the press but never mind them, I feel sorry for the publicans of England who were doing a roaring trade until Luis Suarez dinked that second goal in!

See you tomorrow.

Tag It - you're ill!

I am aching all over this morning after a massive reorganisation in our house that involved lugging bits of furniture up and down two flights of stairs! Talk about cardio fitness! In between the spring cleaning I've been catching up with some challenges in Blogland (well I needed a breather!) Come and see the Get Well card I made:

I wanted to make a card using neutrals with some bright pops of colour. The Smoky Slate background paper is from the Neutrals designer series paper stack and I love the way it matches the Smoky Slate card base exactly.

The paper stack contains four different tone-on-tone designs in every single colour in Stampin' Up's Neutrals colour family and I think it's a great investment. Of course the stacks come in all the other colour families too if you're not a neutrals fan!

The topper was made by inking up one of the images from Tag It with markers and cutting it out with the coordinating framelit. Do have a look at this fabulous, versatile stamp set - every time one of these sets is sold, Stampin' Up donates £2 to RMHC which helps families who have children with serious illness stay together during treatment. (Find out more here.)

The inspiration for today's card came from the intriguing colour palette at Colour Me...!

and the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches.

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

Stamps: Tag It wood or cling

Ink: Basic Black, Bermuda Bay and Real Red markers

Card stock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Other: Chalk Talk framelits, Adorning Accents embossing folder, Big Shot, Owl punch (for the heart) 

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)

Would you like to know how I got my hulking great teenage boy to have a clear out in his room? First, I gained entry with a pile of clean washing; once in, I chatted about this and that before casually asking if there was anything he'd change about his room if he could. Being male, he doesn't like change so he immediately said no. "Wouldn't it be great to get your xbox in this cupboard," I suggested. "And then when you weren't using it you could shut the door on it." His eyebrows snapped together dangerously. "It would be like a proper editing suite," I continued hastily before he could speak. "And perhaps you could have one of those big leather executive chairs..." Bingo! A faraway look appeared in his eyes. "One of those swivelly ones?" he asked wistfully. "Yes!" I said. "Of course, you would have to clear out the cupboard by the end of the weekend but I could certainly get one of those chairs for you!"

Oh dear, bribery and corruption... but the chair is on its way!

See you tomorrow,

3 minute get well with trees

It's Three Minute Thursday here today so it's time to make a quick card. One of my 'go to' techniques for  fast cards is sponging - you can make an arty one layer card using stamps, ink and sponges in minutes! To make this card even quicker, I've used the pre-cut and folded notecards on p.162 of the annual catalogue; they're good, heavy card stock, perfect for one layer cards, and they come with envelopes too. Come and see what I made:

Living in the gentle countryside of north Buckinghamshire, I'm often inspired by the changing seasons. At the moment summer is giving way to autumn and it's prompted me to bring out my tree stamps. I started by stamping the row of trees from Lovely as a Tree  and roughly sponging in the sky and the foreground. Next came the Serene Silhouettes tree, stamped twice, in Gumball Green. I sponged more ink over the foreground and disguised the joins with markers before adding texture over the top using the top of the oak tree stamp.

The sentiment is from So Sorry. I love the high-impact font of the words 'So sorry' in this set and there's a choice of different phrases to add to it - including 'for the loss of your beloved pet' and 'this is late'.

It's been a getting everyone well kind of week here on Crafting Clare's Paper Moments and I'm not the only one! Less is More is challenging us to make one layer get well cards too so this can be my second entry there.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Serene Silhouettes, So Sorry
Ink: Old Olive, Soft Sky, Blushing Bride, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Gumball Green
Card stock: Pre-cut note cards
Other: Markers, 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.


My daughter, who has definitely been struck down by the lurgy, came downstairs yesterday morning looking heavy-eyed. "Bub," she said. "I dode think I can eat eddy breakfast this bording!" Whenever my children tell me they can't do something I immediately say: "Course you can Malcolm! Just stick this up your nose and you'll be fine!" because of the Vicks Sinex adverts of the 70s. I'm only joking I hasten to add, and wouldn't personally recommend that anyone sticks anything up their nose, but it does cheer the children up and that's the main thing!

Here's one of the old ads in case you fancy a trip down memory lane.



See you tomorrow,

Getting punchy with Papillon Potpourri

Have you noticed that it's get well week on my blog this week?! It seems I'm not the only one with get well wishes on my mind as the challenge over at ATCAS this week is 'Get Well' too! I've made a simple CAS design with one or two fun details - come and see:

The card is 10cm square but has had a centimetre removed from the bottom of the front flap. I marked the centre of the card and, pushing the punch as high as it would go, punched a butterfly out of the card front. It's easy to use that one as a guide when punching the other butterflies either side. I pasted a square of Crisp Cantaloupe core'dinations card stock underneath so that it makes a lovely textured border...

... and when you open the card, the inside flap is an expanse of delicious colour. But that's not all!

I stamped some solid butterflies on some scrap card stock, added the detail image over the top in a darker ink and punched them out with the same Bitty Butterfly punch. When they were attached over the punched areas on the card front, you just get a glimpse of the textured cardstock below.

I love a stamp set that coordinates with a punch and it's even better when a stamp set has more than one matching punch - like Papillon Potpourri, the set I'm using today. And even better than that when the stamp set and one of its coordinating punches has 15% discount until the end of the month! Click here for more information.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Hopeful Thoughts (sentiment)
Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Crisp Cantaloupe core'dinations, scrap of Early Espresso
Other: Bitty Butterfly and Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punches, 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.


It looks as if I might need another get well card as my poor daughter sounds as if she's coming down with something. She's still quite chirpy though, despite a very sore throat, and made me laugh by describing her voice as 'so husky it could pull a dog sled'!

See you tomorrow,

Get well soon Shelli!

It's Get well week at Crafting Clare's Paper Moments this week as I seem to have a fair few relatives and friends who are not 100%. Today's card though was made for Shelli Gardner, the CEO of Stampin' Up, who was recently involved in a serious riding accident (read about it on her blog here.) and is now recovering at home with her family. It may seem strange to send a card - after all, I don't actually know her! - but I would like to add my voice to the many that wish this inspiring woman a speedy recovery.

This beautiful creature from Horse Frontier was stamped and coloured with sponging, aquapainter and markers before pasting it to a card front. I used one of my oval framelits to cut an aperture in a panel of Soft Sky card stock and stamped it with the sentiment and a decorative tab.

Horse Frontier also contains a horse shoe image which makes a great charm! I stamped it in Baked Brown Sugar on Crumb Cake card stock and cut it out with my sharp paper snips. TIP: When you have a very curvy shape to cut out, use oval or circle punches to start you off and then trim the straighter bits with your snips. The charm was pierced, threaded with linen thread and tied round the aperture.

I also wanted to show you this little tab detail above the aperture. It's from a new Christmas set in the new seasonal catalogue called Merry Little Christmas and I know it's going to be a very hard-working addition to the Craft Square Metre!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Horse Frontier,  Merry Little Christmas, Hopeful Thoughts (sentiment)
Ink: Basic Grey, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate, Island Indigo, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Baked Brown Sugar
Card stock: Whisper White, Soft Sky, scrap of Crumb Cake
Other: Ovals framelits, markers, linen thread, 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.

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.

I am always touched at how lovely my readers are and I'd really like to thank everyone who has sent good wishes for my father and father in law. Just to update you, things have now stabilised for my father, and my father in law is now home from hospital with someone to come and help every day. I have the utmost respect for the medical profession but I think I really have had enough of hospitals for the time being!

See you tomorrow for more getting well,