Hello Love and Crushed Curry from Stampin' Up!

When it's a gloomy old day you need a colour like Stampin' Up's Crushed Curry to give you a lift! That was the idea behind today's card, made to cheer up a friend.

Add to that lovely bright colour a bird singing his heart out, sunshine, sequins and a directional arrow saying go, go GO! and surely this card couldn't fail to put a bit of pep in anyone's step!

I used a couple of strips of the Color Me Autumn washi tape and my favourite of this year's Stampin' Up hostess sets, Hello Love.

So how do you get your hands on the exclusive Stampin' Up hostess sets?  They're available free as part of your Stampin' Up rewards when you place an order of £150 or more but, if you prefer to spread the cost of your craft supplies, members of my Stampers 6 club can also get them for free in their hostess month!

• Click here to browse my shop and place an order
• Click here for more information about joining my Stampers 6 club.

I'll be linking today's card up with the ladies at CAS Colours and Sketches where this is the sketch to follow:

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

Hello Love Wood Stamp Set £16.00	Color Me Autumn Designer Washi Tape £4.50	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry £6.25
Cajun Craze A4 Card Stock £6.25	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment £10.95	Gold Sequin Trim £4.50

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 my card cheered my friend up but I should have lent her my youngest son!

I bought some pears from the market the other day, gorgeously ripe and bursting with juice. My boys had one after dinner yesterday and the youngest immediately wanted another. "Could you get one for me?" I asked as he hovered over the fruit bowl, looking for the best ones. He began to sing in the tune of the Adele song 'someone like you'. "I want nothing but the best pear for you-hooo!" he wailed. He carried on in this vein until the end when he gazed soulfully at me and sang: "Sometimes the pears are ripe and sometimes..." he paused and said abruptly: "Sometimes they aren't!"

See you tomorrow,

Make a male birthday card with Hello Love from Stampin' Up

The heart of England is once again bathed in golden sunshine - which has reminded me of the sun in one of Stampin' Up's hostess stamp sets, Hello Love.  I thought the images in this set would work well for a masculine card and you'll be glad to know that when I checked with my quality control department (my sons) today's card got the thumbs up! Come and see:

I started by heat embossing the sun in gold and colouring it with Daffodil Delight blendabilities. I love all the fabulous elements in this gorgeous set (and the best bit is that you can get it for free as part of my Stampers 6 club or with orders of £150 or more as part of Stampin' Up's rewards system.)

I stamped the sentiment next, keeping it nice and straight by using my stamp-a-majig, then added the arrow and bird, stamped, coloured and fussy cut with my sharp paper snips. A final sprinkling of candy dots and the card was done!

I shall be linking up with The Male Room, where the challenge is to use metal on your card (I'm hoping my gold embossing counts);  The Paper Players where Jaydee has come up with a CAS male challenge; and CAS(E) this Sketch where I fell in love with this beautiful sketch:

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

Hello Love Wood Stamp Set Free as part of rewards	Whisper White A4 Card Stock £7.50	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment £10.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment £10.95
Versamark Pad £6.75	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder £3.95	Brights Candy Dots £5.50	Paper Snips £8.95	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig £10.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products online 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.

Thank you to everyone who has asked how my daughter is getting on at university. She's settling in well and has obviously found soulmates in her flatmates as she keeps texting me photos of cakes they've been baking together! I do miss her of course and keep hearing her voice in my head. I remember saying to her recently that I don't worry about her in the same way as I worry about the boys. "I know," she said cheerfully  "With me it's just my eyeliner choices and whether I've tidied my room!"

See you tomorrow,

A great big Stampin' Up woohoo!

There's nothing like good news to energise you! I woke up very early this morning still buzzing away because I've been chosen for a place on Stampin' Up's Artisan Design Team! I feel so honoured - there are only 16 places on the team and designers were chosen from Stampin' Up demonstrators all over the world!

Can I also just say how very touched I've been by all the messages of congratulations I've received, not just here on my blog but also on facebook and via email. You are such a lovely and supportive bunch and you've made me feel very special - thank you.

Oh goodness me, let's show you a card before I start having to whisk out the tissues!

There are so many fabulous elements in the stamp set I've used today that I'm bursting with ideas for using it! It's a brand new hostess set from the new Stampin' Up annual catalogue called Hello Love. I stamped the sun, coloured it in with blendabilities and layered clouds and a sentiment over the top.

Don't you just love that it's raining lurve?! And that the sunshine is chasing those dark clouds away!

When you're celebrating great news, the code word Celebrate at ATCAS and Less is More's 'Singing in the Rain' theme are the perfect card challenges! I'm also linking up with the clean and simple challenge at ATSM, The Curtain Call, where 'anything goes' (they're also having a woohoo moment as it's their anniversary - congrats ladies!) and Pixie's Snippets Playground. Oh AND I used a Never Before Used Stamp (NBUS) - yes Darnell, it finally happened!

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

Stamps: Hello Love wood or cling (available free with orders of £150+),
Just Sayin' wood or cling

Ink: Real Red, plus Brights markers,
plus Daffodil Delight blendabilities

Card stock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate

Other: Stamp-a-majig, paper snips

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.

What a great weekend it's been! There's not been much of this...

... but plenty of this:

I could definitely get used to this kind of lifestyle!

I'm going to post this now and then I'll be back on Tuesday. Hope to see you then,