Polka Dot designer paper gift set

Joining Stampin' Up is even better value than usual at the moment! Until the end of November, you can add a free pack of designer paper worth £9.95/13.25€ to your starter kit AND you can get another free pack every month for the following five months! What a deal! The starter kit costs only £99/129€ and, even if you're not interested in a business venture, you may be surprised at how low the minimums are - it could be worth joining just to get discount on your own purchases. Do email me if you'd like to know more - I'm happy to give you all the information you need so you can see if it might suit you. If you already know you'd like to join, click here to join my team.

What would you do with your free designer paper? Here's a little project I made with a gorgeous bold dotty paper from the fabulous Patio Party pack:

I wanted the paper to take centre stage...

... so I just added ribbon for a bit of texture and a die-cut leaf behind the sentiment label. You can hardly see from the photo but I stamped the sentiment again and cut out the word happy to pop up for a bit of extra interest.

You can see it better in this photo - and the ruffle of the seam binding edge. I adore the combination of Always Artichoke with the gorgeous new Summer Starfruit in-colour! I made a little box to go with the card:

I like the way that on the other side of the dotty paper you catch a glimpse of cakes!

And this is how it looks when it's all done up. This wrap-around-style box is my favourite at the moment and I'll be showing you how it's made next week.

Here's what you'll need to make today's project
Stamps: Perfect Punches, Mixed Medley (for the box label)
Ink: Always Artichoke, Summer Starfruit
Card stock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke
Punches: Large oval punch, 3/4" circle punch, corner rounder
Other: Patio Party designer paper, Always Artichoke seam binding, white stitched grosgrain ribbon, bakers twine, Little Leaves sizzlits die, Big Shot
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

When my daughter saw the project on her way in from school she told me she liked it. "It reminds me of you," she added, sailing past my desk. "In what way?" I called after her. "It's dotty!" she said and disappeared up the stairs cackling.

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

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!

Hello punches and dies

I couldn't NOT do another card for this week's Less is More challenge now could I? Chrissie and Mandi want to see cards featuring dies and punches - and that is a lot of fun! The starting point for my card was this wonderful colour challenge at ColourQ:

Isn't this a fabulous colour combination?! And not one I'd have thought up myself I have to say!

I was quite taken with the leafy pattern on the quilt in the inspiration picture, so I brought out my beloved Little Leaves die and set to work...

... laying a spare leafy die cut onto my card stock and sponging Baja Breeze ink over it to get this effect for my background. I die cut two more leaf sprigs, cut them down a little and arranged them over the background. The edges of the card stock have been distressed to create a bit of contrast between the panel and the card base.

I used a couple of border punches  and some taffeta ribbon at the bottom of the panel, to ground the leaf sprigs, and added a lovely ruffled flower made with my Boho Blossoms punch and centred with a Basic Grey brad. The sentiment is from Elementary Elegance, a stamp set that comes free with a £45 order as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Elementary Elegance (Sale-a-bration freebie)

Ink: Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze (Dusty Durango isn't available in the UK)

Card stock: Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Basic Grey, Cajun Craze

Other: Scallop border and Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punches, Boho Blossom punch, Little Leaves die, taffeta ribbon in Basic Black, Basic Grey brad, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these supplies for you and can have them delivered to your address in the UK. I am committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to help and advise. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

Click here to see all the free Sale-a-bration sets and don't forget to let me know which ones you'd like - remember, you get one free item for EVERY £45 spent!

Yesterday, while I was cooking dinner, I had some charming company in the shape of my daughter who was busy making sweet treats to celebrate one of her friends' birthday. We spent a happy hour giggling while we worked and it was only afterwards I realised that she had liberally sprinkled the entire kitchen with icing sugar and used practically every bowl in the cupboard! She played her trump card at this point, pleading essential GSCE coursework, and left the washing up to me! Here's what my clever girl made though - orange and lemon creams. Aren't they cute?!

Thanks for dropping in on me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a quick card for Three Minute Thursday. Hope to see you then,