Sea-ing double

Hello crafting pals!

Writing the title of this post made me laugh like a paper bag but I have mastered myself now, so let's get on and have a look at some cards. Yes, that's right, not just one but TWO cards today!

If you can hear me sighing, it's because I really wouldn't mind being on either of those peaceful looking islands. They were both created with Stampin' Up's Waterfront set, a real favourite of mine.

This one layer card was made for AAA cards' challenge where they want clean and simple cards made in minutes with an optional summer theme. I didn't time it, but it was really fast! The background is literally five stampings:

1. Stamp the water in Balmy Blue
2. Clean the stamp, turn it over, stamp the sand in So Saffron
3. Stamp the palm trunks in Soft Suede
4. Stamp the palm leaves in Old Olive
5. Stamp the sun in So Saffron

The part that took the longest was getting out my Concorde and 9th Enjoy it All set, and inking up the word 'enjoy' with a Basic Black marker. A huff and a stamp and the card was done!

I made the second card because I suddenly realised that tropical islands could be construed as nautical (thanks Darnell!) which meant I could join in with this month's Twofer Challenge! Yay!

I started this one off with the sentiment (from a long-ago retired Stampin' Up set, Hello You), added the sand and the trees and layered on the 'wavy sea' paper.

I wanted to underline the sea with a card stock strip in the Shaded Spruce colour I'd used for the palm leaves but I didn't have any. I swiped my ink pad across the bottom of the card front instead and topped it with the paper. Canny eh?

Here are the challenge details and - oh look! I've missed the deadline for AAA Cards! Now that's not like me is it?! *slinks off dejectedly*

Thanks for joining me today and I'll see you soon.

Hello beautiful you!

Hello crafting pals!

So, I'm just going to show you photos of my housework today... HA HA! Of course not! I got up early, took my floofy assistant for a long walk and since then we've been crafting all morning - not even a flick over the loo seat with a duster, as my mother in law would say!

It's Less Is More day on Saturdays - yay! - and the challenge this week is to use Tangerine and Aqua colours.

I used a new stamp set that I'd bought from a well-known auction site, thinking I'd snapped up a bargain. I thought it was Stampin' Up's Beautiful You - and it looks exactly the same only it's much smaller. Buyers beware! Anyway, I inked up the lady with the umbrella, using markers so that I could leave out the umbrella and the ground, and it was easy to doodle in extra hair where the umbrella had been. The lady was then coloured in with inks and a blender pen and snipped out.

The ground is a piece of left-over textured DSP, inked and partially punched out with a 2 1/4" circle punch. I added a frame made with the same punch and a 2 1/2" one, and had my lady lean out of the frame a little. A quick sentiment and the card was done!

She reminds me a little of my auburn-haired daughter so I'll probably use it as a note card for her :)

EDITED TO ADD: I've been fretting about this card all day. I am a CAS girl through and through but perhaps this card needed a little bit of interest...? I added some dots. What do you think? Better?

AND IN OTHER NEWS
My daughter is staying here at the moment while she and her partner look for a flat in London where they now work. She has recently had a nasty cold, which I caught but her partner didn't. When I expressed surprise at this, they told me they had 'opposite immune systems'! As they left the room, I overheard her partner say: "It's good isn't it, because we'll be able to look after each other when we're ill!"

Thanks for visiting me today :) I've got loads more to show you, so do pop back tomorrow if you have a minute!

Seaside yumminess!

It's August and I'm definitely in holiday mood! Which makes the St Lukes Charity Card Challenge the place to be as this month they are calling for cards inspired by the seaside. The charity will be having a card sale at the end of this month to raise funds for the hospice so, if you'd like to join in with the challenge or if you have spare cards to send for them to sell, hop on over to the site.

I'm really enjoying this challenge and have made several cards which I'll be showing you this week. Come and see:

I cut the Top Note shape, using my die, and sponged the top half with Marina Mist ink and the bottom half with So Saffron. I love the way the ink picks up the stitch detail on the edges! The pointy bits on the sides were trimmed off so that I could wrap my Rich Razzleberry wide-striped ribbon round the Top Note.

Then I went about making an ice cream cone and that was great fun! The cone is a scrap of So Saffron card stock embossed with the Square Lattice folder (how useful that little embossing folder is - only £6.95 and a real hard worker!) and the ice cream scoops were cut out of Pretty In Pink card stock using circle punches and sponged at the edges. 

For the sentiment I used 'thanks' from Basic Phrases and the word 'sweet' from Hello, You (a little-known set on p.86 of the large catalogue) which I extended with a marker to say 'sweetie'. The tag was punched out with the decorative label punch, folded and clipped over the ribbon with a library clip from the clip assortment - I am in totally in love with these! (If you love them too, check out the special offer this month at the top of my blog.)

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Basic Phrases, Hello You

Ink: Marina Mist, So Saffron, More Mustard, Pretty In Pink

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, So Saffron, Pretty In Pink

Other: Melon Mambo marker, Stamp-a-majig, Rich Razzleberry wide striped grosgrain ribbon, clip assortment

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

If the ice cream on today's card has tickled your fancy, what about this one? It's a banana split sundae from Morelli's as chosen and eaten with relish by my eldest son! Mmmmmm...

Or how about this? A Morelli Madness! My youngest son had his eye on this confection - so big they rang a bell whenever anyone was mad enough to order it!

My husband and my daughter offered to help my son out with this one but, despite their best efforts, they didn't get much of a look in!

You may be thinking that I very sensibly refrained from ordering a sundae...

... but frankly, I'm never really one to hold back where ice cream is concerned!

Thank you for dropping by today - I really do appreciate your visits. I'll have another seaside-themed card to show you tomorrow so come and have a look if you have a minute. I'll hope to see you then,

Masculine Monday will be back on 5th September.

Forest Friends baby card - with legs!

The household was roused by my cackles this morning as I logged onto the Less is More challenge site. Chrissie and Mandi, I discovered, have entertainingly set us the challenge of making a card featuring something with legs! My first thought was a spider... but I don't have a spider stamp, which is lucky as I can't cope with spiders first thing in the morning (or at any time of the morning come to that!) Next I thought of furniture and wished I had the Little Additions set from p.20 of the mini catalogue...

Anyway, then Life happened, and by the time I was able to return to the LiM challenge, I'd come over all gooey! Come and have a look:

I was thinking of Bambi - do you remember when he goes off on his spindly legs with Thumper and learns new words? Well here he is meeting a butterfly! I thought this would make a cute card for a new baby.

'Bambi' is from the Forest Friends set and I think he's adorable! I stamped him in Early Espresso ink and clear-embossed him. The bushes are actually the tops of the oak tree from Lovely as a Tree and the butterflies are a really useful image from one of this year's Sale-a-bration sets So Happy For You.

I built the sentiment out of two stamps and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Taking bits of a stamp and putting it with another is easy with markers and a stamp-a-majig, and the markers contain the same ink as the full sized ink pads so no need to worry about whether the colours match.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Forest Friends, Lovely as a Tree, So Happy For You, Hello You, Tiny Tags

Ink: Soft Suede, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake 

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede markers, Stamp-a-majig

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

This morning my youngest son came up to me saying "Mummy, what's this?" He then proceeded to stretch his cheeks away from his nose with his hands, making his mouth stretch in a wide line. I looked at him in astonishment. "I don't know," I said faintly. "I don't either," he said cheerfully. "But I've just learned how to do it!"

Thank you for looking at my card today. I know all you other LiMettes out there will have been working hard on this challenge and I can't wait to see what you've come up with. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you on Monday with a card for a boy that's WAY outside my comfort zone! Hope to see you then!