Notably Ornate thank you

It's always so much fun playing along with One Layer Wednesday but I'm only just getting round to Wednesday's challenge today! It's Susan's turn to host and the theme is 'At least one star and at least one stripe'. There are lots of patriotic entries celebrating last week's American Independence Day but, since it's Masculine Monday here, I decided to go for a useful male thank you. Come and see:

This is such a quick card. I started with the notepaper - picking it out of the frame stamp with a Marina Mist marker, huffing on the stamp and stamping it on the edge of my card front. The sentiment was stamped over the top and the stars added.

Here's a close up. Making a simple collage by stamping images over each other is one of my favourite things to do. I created a little bit of interest by stamping one of the Itty Bitty stars onto watercolour paper and cutting it out with sharp paper snips before popping it up over the larger star. I used the water colour paper because (despite its name) it's really thick and has a lovely chipboard feel.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Notably Ornate, Thank You Kindly, Season of Joy, Itty Bitty Bits

Ink: Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, scrap of watercolour paper

Other: Markers, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Your free brad and ribbon set will be added automatically to any order of £45 or more.

We were away in Tynemouth this weekend visiting my in-laws. My daughter and I nipped into Newcastle on Saturday afternoon for a little retail therapy and I was amused to see everyone sat around on deckchairs at the monument watching Wimbledon on one of those huge screens. We missed the mens final, as we were on the road, but got back in time to watch the presentation. It broke my heart to see Andy Murray struggling to keep his composure as he thanked his supporters.

Hope you're having a happy Monday. I shall be back tomorrow with something gold - hope to see you then!

Masculine Monday Sprinkled Expressions

The free stamp sets and papers in this year's Sale-a-bration have been the best ever in my opinion. There really is something for everyone and it would be a real shame to let any of them slip through your fingers. The promotion will be over at the end of this week, so do let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to place an order as I'd hate for you to miss it. And if you're thinking about signing up and getting the extra stamp set in your starter kit, you really will need to get your application in quickly. Send me an email or give me a ring on 01280 820593 and I'll do everything I can to help.

Anyway, I digress! The Sale-a-bration set I'm using today is the wonderfully graphic Sprinkled Expressions. Come and see:

All the strong images in this set work well with lots of lovely white space and the large star image is perfect for male cards...

... and although I've used it as a 'well done' card today, it would be equally at home as a birthday or a 'thanks, you're a star' kind of card. The red stars and sentiment are all one stamp and I've used my markers to colour the rubber before stamping; this is the kind of stamp that looks great inside a card too - as I did in this card with one of the other images in the set. The star at the bottom was cut out with a circle punch and raised on a dimensional. It's from a different set, Itty Bitty Bits, and I thought it looked great with the Sprinkled Expressions images. (And now my brain is now buzzing with ideas for that set too, so watch this space!)

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Sprinkled Expressions (sale-a-bration freebie), Itty Bitty Bits

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist

Card stock: Marina Mist, Whisper White

Other: Markers, dimensionals, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

As part of the Sale-a-bration promotion, here until 31st March, you can choose a free stamp set or set of papers with EVERY £45 you spend. Click here to see all the fabulous Sale-a-bration freebies.

I hope you had a good weekend. Losing an hour of sleep yesterday as we changed to British Summer Time was counterbalanced for us by the sun shining as if it was summer! The only shadow cast on the day was when an ice cream van drove into our road with its music tinkling, causing my youngest son to dash inside and scramble about finding his money; sadly, by the time he'd run back outside, the van was driving away - and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that a young boy doesn't take kindly to that sort of thing!

Thank you for visiting me today. I shall be back tomorrow with something a little more feminine - do come back and see!