Thinking of you with An Open Heart

I was so pleased to see the wonderful An Open Heart carrying over to the new Stampin' Up catalogue. You know how I feel about leaf stamps, don't you? And I feel the same about bird stamps too - so this set has me covered! Come and see how I used the leaves:

Here's the leafy image - which is actually an olive branch I think! Whatever, it still gets my vote! Do you like the colour combination? I used a Chocolate Chip card base with the image in Always Artichoke, Night of Navy and Elegant Eggplant :)

Here's a different style with the same sentiment, a favourite of mine from Hopeful Thoughts. I watercoloured the leaves and olives for a quick touch of colour and added a sprinkling of gems to finish.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THESE CARDS NOW!
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An Open Heart Wood-Mount Stamp Set £22.00	Hopeful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set £18.00	Chocolate Chip A4 Card Stock £6.50	Always Artichoke Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock £7.25	Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments £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.

One of our walks involves a short drive and I love it - not least because Eva pup was once truly car-phobic. Not any more, I'm proud to say! I have worked SO hard with her and now she is able to hop into our car and sit quietly and calmly while I drive (although she does prefer it when the whole family is in there with her!) Yesterday, on the way there, while rounding a sharp bend, I had to brake as there were a couple of sheep in the road. On the way back, I crawled around the bend saying: "I wonder whether the sheep are still there?" They weren't. Instead, to our immense enjoyment, there was a cat!

See you tomorrow,

Another use for Stampin' Up's Curvy Keepsake Box part 2

Did you see the mug I made yesterday with the Curvy Keepsake Box from the new Stampin' Up autumn/winter catalogue? Well, I have a confession to make... I made that card when I saw this week's Beverage challenge at Less is More, only the trouble is I forgot it was supposed to be one layer. Now, has anyone else made that mistake before?!!! I couldn't admit defeat though and so today, I bring you my Curvy Keepsake mug part 2! Come and see:

This time, when I made a mug out of the die, I used it as a mask. I placed the mug mask off the side of a Crumb Cake card base, put a sheet of scrap paper over most of it and stamped the Hardwood background stamp to create a 'table'. The scrap paper was moved to cover the table and I sponged Whisper White craft ink around it and the mug.

To decorate the mug, I used the heart from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack to make a stencil and sponged inside it, adding a gem. The Stampin' Up chalk marker made excellent steam and I added some more gems to that. Ahhhhh! Nothing like a cup of lurve!

Here's a close up of that Hardwood table. I love the way it looks stamped in Wisteria Wonder on Crumb Cake card stock and sponged with more of the ink. The sentiment is a favourite of mine from the Hopeful Thoughts stamp set, stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink.

Here's a quick visual reminder of how to make the mug:

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

Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Dies £29.95	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock £6.25	Hardwood [wood] £15.95	Hopeful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set £17.95	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack £15.50
Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents £4.50	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad £6.95	White Stampin Chalk Marker £3.25

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products 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've been very touched by all the messages of support I've received about my daughter leaving home to go to university. We gave her a great send off with a fun games evening on the evening before she left. Her lovely boyfriend introduced us to some brilliant games that will remain firm family favourites (the saucepan game anyone?!)

The whole family escorted her to Manchester and helped her carry her belongings to her room.

There was a tricky moment when my daughter found my eldest son in the kitchen eating a brownie that one of the new students had baked to share with her new flatmates. "But there was a sign on them saying help yourself!" he said indignantly. A black eye can be painful, so we whisked him away while my daughter settled in and met everyone. We returned later to take her out for a slap up meal and I was able to hear about her day before our journey home. Of course I shall miss her like mad but I know that she'll be happy and we'll certainly keep in touch :)

See you tomorrow,

Tips for using Stampin' Up blendabilities

What's your favourite crafting supply at the moment? I've become addicted to the new blendabilities from Stampin' Up and am having so much fun finding out all about them! Today's card was something of an experiment which I think turned out pretty well - come and see:

Just look at that foxy little fella! Isn't he a cutie? I had been wondering what would happen if I stamped him directly onto Pistachio Pudding card stock and coloured him with my Pumpkin Pie blendabilities. It worked! The colour turned out to be as intense as I could have wished!

Here's a close up. Have you noticed that there's no black outline on my fox? That's because I stamped him in Cajun Craze classic ink which works very well. If you DO want a black outline, Momento ink is recommended.

I 'grounded' my fox with Stampin' Up's chalk marker drawn in lines, and surrounded him with white embossed bushes from the Hopeful Thoughts stamp set.

The sentiment is from Something to Say which was stamped onto a banner and stapled to the panel. I added a tiny bow - and if you're wondering where I found the bakers twine to match that fox, blendabilities are brilliant for colouring embellishments too!

I see there's an Animal challenge over at Less is More this week so I shall be linking up over there.

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

Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding [131299]	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549]	Life In The Forest [clear] [133851]	Something To Say Clear Stamp Set [134180]	Hopeful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set [129582]
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad* [119671]	Versamark Pad [102283]	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132]	White Stampin Chalk Marker [132133]	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Pumpkin Pie Assortment [130997]

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'll leave you with a photo I saw on Pinterest which sums up my experiences with computers - and all other electronic equipment!

Tomorrow I'll be joining my friends from the Stampin' Up Artisan Design team to bring you our weekly blog hop. There'll be heaps of top-quality inspiration so do come and see!

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.

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,