Sunflowers with Eyecatching Ikat

Stampin' Up's new photopolymer sets are the business! That's my verdict after a bit of a play this morning when I used Eyecatching Ikat (free as part of this promotion) and found that this set is fabulous  - and not just for those super trendy ikat designs either! Come and see:

Sunflowers are also all the rage at the moment! These sunflowers and leaves were stamped in a cluster using Eyecatching Ikat, cut out with my sharp paper snips and attached to a panel trimmed with one of my labels framelits.

I wanted a little dimension, so I made more flowers and popped them up over the originals. I'm old enough to remember the last time sunflowers were everywhere but the chevron trim adds a lovely fresh twist.

I was inspired today by Less is More, where the theme is flowers; The Paper Players who also want to see CAS flowers; ATCAS where Off the Edge is the code phrase this week; and, last but not least, the gorgeous sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch:

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

Stamps: Eyecatching Ikat photopolymer (free with every £60 spend), Regarding Dahlias (sentiment) wood or cling

Ink: Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Baked Brown Sugar

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Labels framelits, Big Shot, Designer Paper Stack in Subtles, paper snips, 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 ONE OF THESE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SETS WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

Sunflowers are amazing although I'm not a fan of them in my tiny garden. Once, when my daughter was a little girl, she and a friend had a tea party in the garden. They loved pouring 'tea' (water) from a toy teapot and I gave them some little fairy sized nibbles including some sunflower seeds. My daughter later confessed that the seeds were spilled during the course of the afternoon but the following year I couldn't understand why we kept getting rogue sunflowers growing in my flower beds!

See you tomorrow,

Create a Cupcake and cheer up (buttercup!)

Rustling up a batch of cupcakes has been known to raise my spirits in the past but now I have all sorts of dietary restrictions, baked cupcakes have lost their attraction. Stamped ones though, well that's a different matter! Here's a batch I decorated earlier:

Stampin' Up's Create a Cupcake stamp set and coordinating punch made producing these little cuties a doddle - and no washing up to be done either!

The cupcake cases were paper-pieced using one of the papers from the pretty Gingham Garden designer paper pack...

... and this fabulous sentiment would cheer anyone up, especially in a happy colour combination of Raspberry Ripple and Daffodil Delight!

I'll be linking this card up with Make My Monday where the theme is Food and Drink and CASual Friday's Three Thirds challenge which is looking for a group of three on a card.

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

Stamps: Create a Cupcake wood or cling, Geometrical (for the sentiment) wood or cling

Ink: Markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron

Other: Square framelits, Big Shot, Cupcake punch, Gingham Garden Designer Paper,  Basic Rhinestones, 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.

My family always manage to cheer me up. "Turn that frown upside down!" they'll say sarcastically to make me giggle. My daughter is learning quotes for her upcoming English exam, so her advice comes from none other than Billy Shakespeare: "Sigh no more ladies," she says soulfully. "Converting all your sounds of sorrow into hey nonny nonny!"

Hmm. Hey nonny nonny then and I'll see you tomorrow with a special gift project.

Shapely Apothecary Art

I wasn't satisfied that my shaped card yesterday was CAS enough and, since the Less is More challenge is all about er... less being more, I thought I'd try and redeem myself with a different idea. Come and have a look:

This is a shape cut out with the largest of my new Labels framelits and mounted onto the same colour card base to create a shape. Does this count?! I cut the bottom point off so that the card would stand nicely. The framelits are a nesting set and they coordinate with the lovely Apothecary Art stamp set so I was able to stamp this gorgeous image and cut it out with a smaller version of the card shape.

Here's a close-up of that pretty floral image. I stamped it in Lucky Limeade and coloured those delicate flowers using Blushing Bride and Pretty in Pink markers and adding Early Espresso dots. That gorgeous swirly sentiment is from Thank You Kindly and I thought it worked well with the ornate label shapes.

I ran some Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon behind the white label as I thought the card needed a little something. A pretty bow seemed to work well with the feminine image.

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

Stamps: Apothecary Art, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: Markers, Labels framelits, Big Shot, seam binding in Crumb Cake, 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.

My daughter has been trying out some new hairstyles and is delighted to have mastered the fishtailed plait. Being my daughter however, she had to show me while making fishy faces by sucking in her cheeks and pushing her lips out. Very attractive I'm sure!

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I have a plan in my head involving inchies which I hope will turn out... Do come back and see!

Hugs,

I'm here for you little Owl!

I've been thinking about punches and die cuts ever since I saw the CAS-ual Fridays challenge on Friday, and I think I've finally come up with something I like. Come and see:

I know I'm not alone in thinking this owl punch is a cutie and a half and there are so many characters you can make with it too. I've seen it dressed up as Santa, doctors and nurses, brides and grooms, pirates, graduates... and it also transforms beautifully into reindeer, penguins, cats, bats, chicks, monsters, devils, bats, mummies... well I think you get the idea with that!

My little owl is looking very nervous - he's flown a bit too high and is way out of his comfort zone up there! He's resting on a cloud I made using the new Labels framelits but it's a long way down... I think  this a great sentiment for someone who has found themselves in a spot of bother too.

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

Stamps: Petite Pairs

Ink: Poppy Parade

Card stock: Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White smooth and textured

Other: Crumb Cake marker, Labels framelits, Big Shot, Owl punch, 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.

The sky in Buckingham is the same colour as the sky in my card but there's not a cloud to be seen! Yes, that's right, the sun is out and I'm happy! And I'm not the only one enjoying the warmth...

Yesterday I heard my husband telling the cat that it would be great if they could swap lives!

I'll be back tomorrow when cycling will be the theme for Three Minute Thursday. Do come and join me then,

Shaped Apothecary Art

I am LOVING using my new stash from the summer mini catalogue and the Edgelits and Framelits I'm using in today's card are already firm favourites! Come and see what I've been up to:

The new Framelits are wafer thin, nesting dies which you can place over card stock in the exact position you want before running it through your die cutting machine. So, for example, they're brilliant for cutting apertures in larger pieces of card stock and, even more excitingly, they coordinate with the gorgeous Apothecary Art stamp set with its intricate label images. Can you see how accurate the cut is?

I've matted my stamped label onto a larger die cut label before embellishing with a snippet from a Little Leaves die cut and a punched flower from the Itty Bitty punch set. Have you seen the decorative edge of the card? This has been cut with an Edgelit - which looks just like a Framelit but cuts borders wherever you want them!

Are you wondering how I got the embossed edging exactly the same shape as the Edgelit border? No, I didn't painstakingly do it by hand (!) it's an embossing folder that has been designed to coordinate with the Edgelit! I personally found it easiest to emboss first and then make the cut. I also found it very easy to line everything up but, if you're not confident that your dies will stay where you want them, you can tape them down with post it notes to make absolutely sure!

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

Stamps: Apothecary Art, retired sentiment

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo

Other: Labels Collection Framelits, Adorning Accents Edgelits, Adorning Accents embossing folders, Little Leaves Sizzlits die, Itty Bitty punch set, Basic Pearls, 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.

Before the regional training last weekend, we were all asked to make a name badge and there were certainly some amazing badges there! I chose an Apothecary Art stamp and the new Framelits to make mine, adding letters punched out of the fabulous Just Add Cake designer papers and backed with little flowers from my favourite Itty Bitty punch set.

Thank you for visiting today and a big welcome to my latest followers. We're gearing up for a bank holiday weekend in the UK and I have to say the weather is looking pretty grim! Hope you have a great weekend whatever you have planned and I shall see you very soon.

Hugs,

PS There'll be no Masculine Monday for the next four weeks as I'll be guest designer at the Make My Monday challenge instead where the theme will be distinctly feminine! I'm really looking forward to that and I hope you'll join in with the fun!