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!

Happy Easter with hanging treats for the tree!

It's time for me and my family to hunker down for our annual Easter get-together but before I show you today's project, let's have a look at the latest Weekly Deals from Stampin' Up! This new set of offers will be available until end of Tuesday 22nd April 2014:

Crisp Cantataloupe 3/8" stitched satin ribbon £8.25 NOW £6.19

Silver Glimmer Paper £4.50 NOW £3.28
This and That Epic Day designer series paper £9.95 NOW £7.46
Afternoon Picnic designer series paper £9.95 NOW £7.46
Polka Stampin' Around builder wheel £3.95 NOW £2.96
Fancy Flower punch £15.50 NOW £11.63
Floral District photobook template (digital download) £12.50 NOW £7.50

Pop over to my online shop to order any of these and if you're in the mood for a crafty bargain, why not have a look at the Clearance Rack while you're there?

What's the Easter Bunny been up to?

The idea behind today's project was to create something you could hang on an Easter tree. Come and see:

The basket is made by putting together a simple box, attaching ribbon to it, then covering with card stock that has been embossed with the Square Lattice embossing folder. You'll notice that the cute little bunny from Life in the Forest has made another appearance - what a little star he is!

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

Stamps: Life in the Forest wood or cling

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar

Card stock: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White plus scraps
Punches: Two step bird, 1 3/4" Circle, Itty Bitty Shapes

Other: Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Candy dots

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.

We always put up an Easter tree - just a few twigs in a jug.

I often decorate it with a theme - birds or butterflies and ribbons one year, flowers in ice cream colours another. This year, it's decorated with all our little bits and pieces we've collected over the years.

The children squee'ed over all their old friends!

Oh dear, little Miss Pink Rabbit is looking a tiny bit grumpy... I think she had ambitions to be the Christmas tree fairy!

It always seems like a miracle to me that you bring some dead-looking twigs indoors and they burst into leaf and, as my daughter observed, who can feel sad when there are fluffy rabbits and choccley eggs in the world?!

Have a very happy Easter and I'll see you next week.

The three minute retro mouse

I loved the retro 'line art on block colour' treatment on this card I showed you on Tuesday, so I carried on with the idea for my three minute card today. Come and have a look:

The block colour background was created by sponging Soft Sky ink into a mask made with a 1" circle punch (a sponge dauber is perfect for this as it gives a nice even finish.)  I added the mouse from Life in the Forest using a stamp-a-majig to make sure he was where I wanted him. By the way, here's what I think of that little mouse: SQUEEEEEE! Sorry about that - hope I didn't hurt your ears! Now, let's take a look at some other versions I rustled up:

Here's a Pistachio Pudding one. The rule here is to choose any colour that formica kitchens were made in back in the 50s, and it will work superbly for this retro look!

I was using the Express Yourself hostess set for the sentiments on these cards and I couldn't resist using 'love you' with an added heart embellishment (from the owl punch). I love you too Mr Mouse!

• Hostess sets are gorgeous, exclusive stamp sets that are usually only available with orders of £150 or more but my Stampers 6 club members are also able to order them as a perk of their membership. If you're interested in joining my club, click here for all the information. There'll be a new group starting in April and places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. I'd love you to join me!

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, Express Yourself (hostess) wood or cling

Ink: Soft Sky, Pistachio Pudding, Summer Starfruit classic inks, stazon black

Card stock: Whisper White, scrap of Real Red (for the heart)

Other: 1" circle punch, sponge daubers, owl punch (for the heart), 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)

Wouldn't it would be wonderful to have a dining set like this:

What a gorgeous splash of colour and those chairs look very comfortable! The only trouble is, I'd have to decorate the whole house to match and...

... aaaargh! Stop it! Please...

...no! It's Formica Hell!

All the day-glo formica will be swept away by tomorrow when I'll have a cute little Easter project to show you - including an easy-to-follow video tutorial. See you then,

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,

The cutest bunny in the forest (probably!)

When Stampin' Up's Life in the Forest stamp set arrived at my house there was a major squea fest - the little animals are just so cute! I used the adorable bunny for my Three Minute Thursday card today (and there's even a video tutorial if you scroll down!) Come and see:

I made this as a birthday card for a tot at first (as in the video) but it would make a perfect Easter card too (as above) - and you can always add tiny punched flowers or eggs if the whim takes you. Have you spotted the leafy bushes using the Petal Parade Sale-a-bration stamp set? I knew that was going to come in mighty handy! And how about the candy dot cotton tail for the rabbit. How cute is that?!

The candy dot is metal so I'm going to link this up with Less is More's Metal challenge and also with Addicted to Stamps and More, where the lovely ladies are running a CAS challenge.

Here's my short video tutorial - do let me know what you think won't you.

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, Teeny Tiny Wishes (for the sentiment) wood or cling,
Petal Parade (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Early Espresso, Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Sky, Pistachio Pudding plus Blushing Bride marker

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: Neutrals candy dots, 2 1/2" circle punch, aqua painter, stamping sponges, 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)

Since Jamie Oliver's school lunches campaign seems to have faded into the dim and distant past, I'm a big believer in a large cooked breakfast to minimise my children's need to buy the rubbish that's available in the school canteen. Bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, tomato are all regulars on my menu as well as a handful of rocket to get some extra nutrition into my youngest! The other day I asked him if he'd like one egg or two. He was obviously in French mode: "One is an oeuf," he said.

See you tomorrow,

Life In the Forest at Christmas

You can never start too early - isn't that what they say about making Christmas cards? Well I'm willing to go along with anything that makes December less busy so whenever I get a festive idea, whatever the time of year, I go for it! Come and see:

The moment I saw Stampin' Up's Life in the Forest set, I was desperate to paper piece those gorgeous little fir trees - after I'd finished cooing over all the cute little animals in the set that is!

I used my fabulous Scalloped Tag Topper punch to make a tag for the card and positioned it on an angled piece of Tangerine Tango card stock. The tag top provided the perfect opportunity to add some of my stitched grosgrain ribbon, tied up with a little bakers twine!

Once I'd added the strip of washi tape and a sprinkling of Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango candy dots, the card was ready for the sentiment. I used a Melon Mambo marker to stamp a banner frame from Itty Bitty Banners, then used my stamp-a-majig to position a Christmas sentiment inside - you can see how to do this here in my short stamp-a-majig video tutorial:



There was no shortage of inspiration in Blogland today! The tag sketch at Retro Sketches, the fabulous colours at Dynamic Duos...

and last but not least, the nudge to get going with the cards from Sarn at Rudolph Day where the challenge is to make TWO festive cards! Did you think I'd forgotten? But no!

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

Stamps: Life in the Forest wood or cling, Itty Bitty Banners wood or cling,
Embellished Events (sentiment) wood or cling

Ink: Early Espresso plus Brights markers

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango smooth and Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi core'dinations, 

Other: Gingham Garden washi tape, Brights candy dots, Wild Wasbi stitched grosgrain ribbon, Early Espresso bakers twine, Designer Series paper stack in Subtles, 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

While I'm perfectly happy to think about Christmas cards I certainly don't want to see any snow until at least 23rd December. My children, on the other hand, would love it to snow so heavily they can't even get out of the front door - well not until it's been confirmed that school is closed anyway. They've only been back at school for a day!

See you tomorrow,