Get your bargains in the Stampin' Up retirement sale!

Have you taken advantage of the fabulous Stampin' Up retirement sale yet? Well hurry - some items have already sold out but there are still many amazing bargains to be had!

SAY IT WITH SPEECH BUBBLES!
One of my favourite retiring stamp sets is Just Sayin', a bargain at 25% off. The coordinating Word Bubbles framelits have been slashed to half price too making this a very attractive little bundle. Come and see some of the cards I've made with this set:

With trendy word bubbles against a watercolour background, this card is perfect for a teen. And yes, no matter how grumpy they appear to be, they DO like to be told that you love them :)

This cheeky sentiment is a bit of fun for anyone's birthday but I designed this particular card for a male. The word bubble was combined with a stripe image from Gorgeous Grunge and some bright chevrons made with the Chevron Border punch. The tyre marks are from a previously retired set, Need For Speed, but a strip of washi would work just as well.

Are you getting an idea of how versatile this set is yet? Here's another speech bubble, this time sitting on a Hardwood background smeared with ink and overstamped with Gorgeous Grunge ink splats. You can make these word bubbles say whatever you like and I hope you realise that I've been very good to restrain myself!

• Just Sayin' is 25% off at £14.21 (cling mount) and £17.96 (wood mount.
• Word Bubbles framelits are 50% off at £10.48 for the pack.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THESE CARDS NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Just Sayin' Clear Stamp Set £18.95 NOW £14.21	Word Bubbles Framelits Die £20.95 NOW £10.48	Gorgeous Grunge Wood Stamp Set £21.95
Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set £12.95	Border Chevron Punch £19.95

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.

The heatwave we were having seems to have cooled down considerably and I found myself complaining that I felt quite chilly the other evening. "Go and sit in the corner then," suggested my youngest son obscurely. "Why on earth would I do that?" I asked. "Well it's 90 degrees in the corner!" he said and then added, kindly: "That's a maths joke!"

Thanks for joining me today. If you fancy a little more male card inspiration, do come back and visit me tomorrow when I'll be adding a quirky touch to a classic!

Hugs,

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,

Just Sayin' a wooden thank you

It was my youngest son's birthday recently and he needed cards to write his thanks for all his lovely presents, so I had to come up with a design that a newly teenaged young man would be happy to write in. Here's what I came up with:

I was thinking of school desks, of ink blots, of comic books and, when I thought of my son, a star! The star I used is from the free Sale-a-bration stamp set Banner Blast and it cuts out in one click of the star punch from the Merry Minis punch set.

The panel was stamped in Basic Grey with Stampin' Up's gorgeous Hardwood background stamp. TIP: For even coverage, it's easier to press the panel onto the inked up stamp rather than the other way around. I smeared a Pear Pizzazz ink pad over the wood image for a little colour and then added an ink blot courtesy of the indispensable Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.

British people don't usually send cards with 'Gee thanks' on them unless they're being sarcastic, but it's easy to ink up with markers leaving the 'gee' out. The speech bubbles in the brilliant Just Sayin' stamp set has coordinating framelits so it's quick and easy to cut them out, especially with the magnetic Big Shot platform which holds them firmly in place.

I spotted this fabulous colour palette over at Colour me... this week:

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

Stamps: Just Sayin' wood or cling, Hardwood wood or cling,
Banner Blast (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling, Gorgeous Grunge wood or cling

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Coastal Cabana, Basic Grey classic inks, plus Basic Grey marker

Card stock: Whisper White, Soft Sky

Other: Word Bubbles framelits, Big Shot, Merry Minis punch set, 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

When I was a girl, it was obligatory to use an ink pen at school and you'd be given bad marks for any ink blots or messiness. Most of the children wrote with cartridge pens but I was bought a fountain pen, which proved impossible for me to cope with. I couldn't work out how to fill it and it would maliciously spit out ink as I was writing. Looking back, that pen caused me a lot of grief but, weirdly, the first thing I spent my wages on when I first started work was...

... a beautiful yellow Harley Davidson fountain pen, which is one of my favourite possessions and writes like a dream!

See you tomorrow,

Thinking about Life in the Forest

I knew I'd love using Stampin' Up's Life in the Forest stamp set. The foxy little fellow from the set is gorgeous and I imagined him being quite thoughtful as he padded about the forest! Come and see:

I've used a split background again - I love doing this and it means I can introduce a little textured core'dinations card stock for a bit of subtle texture. The top half of the panel is stamped with the Hardwood background stamp - a real must-have in my opinion!

What a sweetheart this fabulous fox is! I stamped him onto watercolour paper so that I could watercolour him properly with my aquapainter. I found that stamping in Early Espresso meant that I could mix some of the brown ink into the Cajun Craze. Mr Fox comes with dots for eyes which are lovely but it's easy and fun to change the shape with a marker to change his expression as I've done here.

The beauty of the Just Sayin' speech and think bubbles is that you can make them say whatever you want! I made my card to let a friend know I was thinking of her so this sentiment from Peaceful Petals worked well and I just used my stamp-a-majig to position it perfectly within the frame.

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

Stamps: Life in the Forest wood or cling, Just Sayin' wood or cling,
Hardwood background stamp wood or cling

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso

Card stock: Whisper White smooth, Wild Wasabi core'dinations, watercolour card stock

Other: Word Bubbles framelits, Big Shot, aqua painter, envelope board (for rounding corners), 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

The Life in the Forest creatures aren't the only cuties I've come across this week. "Did I show you the video of the deer making a noise?" my daughter asked chattily at the weekend when I got to spend an increasingly rare half hour with her. "Erm... no," I said. And then: "For goodness sake - how did you come across that? I mean what do you google to get a deer making a noise?!" She looked at me pityingly, the woman who doesn't come across cute videos in the course of my internet activity!

Well I bet you're just dying to see the video of the deer making a noise aren't you? Okay - here it is:



Have a great weekend and I'll see you very soon,

Just Sayin' for the boys

It's been another stormy weekend all over Britain but, since my youngest son had been invited to a swimming party, he was indifferent to the wind and rain! I'm delighted to say I was given plenty of notice to make a card for his friend too so I didn't have to produce something in the 20 seconds available between my son remembering and leaving for the party! Come and see what I came up with:

Boys cards are always a tricky balance - you don't want to insult them by going too young but you don't want to go too sophisticated either. I think the Just Sayin' speech bubbles strike just the right note, especially when paired with some fun background stamps - like the diagonal stripe from Gorgeous Grunge and the tyre mark from Rev Up the Fun.

The chevrons were cut with the Chevron border punch and were easy to scale down with my sharp paper snips. I bet you're admiring my perfectly cut speech bubble too... I can't take credit for that though - Just Sayin' has matching framelits which give that professional finish and the good news is that when you buy the stamp set and framelits together you save 15%!

I wrapped the gift neatly in a funky designer paper from the Retro Fresh range and, since I had plenty of time, made a matching envelope with my envelope board. Do you like the liner? I made it with the off cut from wrapping the present!

I'm going to link my card to the Seize the Birthday challenge where Chevrons are the optional extra to add this week.

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

Stamps: Just Sayin' wood or cling, Gorgeous Grunge wood or cling, Rev Up the Fun wood or cling

Ink: Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Smoky Slate

Card stock: Whisper White, scrap of Pumpkin Pie

Other: Chevron border punch, Big Shot, Just Sayin' framelits, envelope board, Retro Fresh designer paper

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

You'll be glad to know my son enjoyed the pool party. "How did it go?" I asked when he came home. "Swimmingly!" he said and strolled off whistling.

See you tomorrow,

It's fun to water colour - Just Sayin'

Today's card combines two of my favourite new stamp sets in Stampin' Up's new seasonal catalogue. I'm loving the gorgeous effects you can get with Happy Watercolour and the funky speech bubbles of Just Sayin' make a great contrast. Come and see:

It takes time and patience to learn how to water colour effectively but when you have a stamp that mimics the fading out qualities, it's a doddle! I made this background in seconds by repeat-stamping the splodge image from the set, turning it upside down sometimes for variation.

The speech bubbles are such a fun way to add a message to a card and they have matching framelits for easy cutting out. There are some great examples in the set and I've used two of them in this card, but of course you can stamp the speech bubbles without messages by inking them up with markers and then you can write your own sentiments or print computer-generated ones.

I coloured the letter spaces in this message with a black marker so it matched the other one and added a tiny heart.

I'll be linking this card up with ATCAS where the cue word is Love and CASual Fridays where Over the Edge is the challenge.

Here's what you'll need to make this card

Stamps: Happy Watercolour, Just Sayin'

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Crisp Cantaloupe classic inks, Stazon black

Card stock: Whisper White, Pool Party

Other: Just Sayin' framelits, Big Shot, Basic Black marker

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

These speech bubbles remind me of when I was a little girl and desperate to read comics. I was never allowed to (in case it interfered with my 'proper' reading) but once, when I was recovering from the measles, some kind soul sent a pile of Bunty comics for me to read and somehow they managed to get past the reading police! Oh the bliss!

See you tomorrow,