A bank of stippled blossoms

The large flower in Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms stamp set is such a show-stopper that it immediately came to mind when I saw the challenge at Make My Monday this week: to make a clean and simple card featuring flowers. Come and see what I've been up to:

The bank of smaller flowers was made by repeated stamping and stamping off with the solid stamp, then going back over them with the detailed stamp. This gives quite a bit of depth which is emphasised by adding leaves amongst the blooms.

The flowers are so pretty and provide the perfect foil for the queen of them all! This one has been stamped and fussy cut with the larger leaves, then popped up over the smaller flowers.

I love this sentiment from Life Shared, which will be retiring at the end of this month, and think it's perfect for another crafter. Can you see the 'running stitch' style scoring? It's easy to add subtle scoring detail with the Borders plate which fits neatly into the Simply Scored tool.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Life Shared (retiring at the end of June)
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Real Red, Gumball Green, Garden Green
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and to make way for the new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links for lists of the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Forgive me for not being very chatty today but a man from the UPS delivery service came round yesterday with some VERY exciting boxes. If you live in a five mile radius of me, please do not worry about the noise, I'm just a little bit over excited... SQUEEEEEEEAL!!!

See you tomorrow!

Sharing Stampin' Up

I love Stampin' Up products! That's not exactly ground-breaking news but it's why I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator. Since then, I've thoroughly enjoyed sharing my passion with others, some of whom have joined me. If you love these amazing products too, there's a you-shaped space in my group - and now is a great time to join because, until May 30th, you'll get to choose an extra £25 worth of products when you buy your starter kit. It costs just £99 and you'll get £155 worth of goodies - and the best bit is that you can choose exactly what you'd like so there's no need to worry that you'll be duplicating products you already own. Interested? Click here to find out more or if you'd like to have a no-obligation chat about joining, give me a call on 01280 820593.

One of my favourite things to do with my Stampin' Up products hasn't changed since I first discovered them - pulling out a variety of stamp sets and getting inky! Today's card is a good example of that - come and have a look:

This is the result of wondering what would happen if I paired some of the tropical blooms from Secret Garden with images from French Foliage. To make the background,  I sponged ink over some Whisper White card stock and added the script and some French Foliage leaves. The focal flowers were stamped over the top, coloured using an aquapainter and given detail with markers. To finish, I stamped the Secret Garden leaves and outlined flowers around the edge of the panel and sponged more ink over them to add depth. Oh boy, that was fun!

And the sentiment? Well, I've already gone into that!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Secret Garden, French Foliage, Life Shared
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals Ivory
Other: Markers, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! OR join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

My daughter is a fervent believer in sharing - especially when it comes to my clothes and jewellery. She's not so much of a fan of replacing the items she borrows, but perhaps that's because she feels that dressing isn't enough of a challenge for me and that I may be invigorated by the thrill of the hunt for a jumper! 

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow so do join me for a quick card!

A bit of Life Shared

Hello from a very snowy Buckingham where the weather is a perfect excuse for hibernating in the Craft Square Metre! I've checked in at Less is More and found that the theme is Friends, so I've made a card with a wonderful single stamp called Life Shared. Come and have a look:

When I got this stamp I was thinking of engagement, wedding, anniversary and valentines cards, but I do think it fits in beautifully with the friendship theme. I am keen on a layout where everything's going on in one corner leaving lots of lovely white space in the rest of the card - have you noticed?!

Here's a close-up of that beautiful image which I've coloured with aquapainter and ink (you may notice that colouring is definitely not my forté but I had fun and that's the main thing!)

This is such a simple card - stamp the image, colour it and mount it onto first a mat then onto the card front. For a bit of interest, I decided to stamp the image again in Riding Hood Red, cut the sentiment out as a banner, add a little piercing and attach it across the layers.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Life Shared
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, So Saffron
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red
Other: Blush Blossom marker (for colouring the skin), aquapainter, Essentials piercing templates
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight 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.
DON'T FORGET,  SALEABRATION STARTS ON TUESDAY WITH FREE STAMP SETS AND OTHER ITEMS FOR EVERY £45 YOU SPEND.  IF YOU'RE THINKING OF JOINING STAMPIN' UP, YOU'LL GET 25% EXTRA IN YOUR STARTER KIT DURING SALEABRATION!

I saw several car collisions on my way home through the snow yesterday - nothing serious thank goodness - but it does make me think that it really is sensible to stay at home if it's at all possible. The rest of my family think otherwise however and won't consider they've made the most of the snow unless they've gone sledging down 'Death Hill'! It should be a comfort that my husband has gone with them but frankly he's worse than all of them put together and I shall be glad when they're safely home!

Keep warm,