April baubles

It may seem crazy to make Christmas cards in April but a couple a month means I'll have quite a stash later in the year. And anyway, it's Rudolph Day over at Stamping for Pleasure and it's always fun to join in there! My card is made with the Christmas Ornament punch, one of this week's special offers - come and see:

Those branches at the top of the card are stamped with the fir tree from Stampin' Up's Lovely as a Tree - that set is such a favourite of mine!

I added the Christmas sentiment from That's the Ticket which punches out neatly with the coordinating punch. I love stapling these tickets onto projects or attaching them with safety pins.

The baubles were given a bit of texture with the Northern Flurry embossing folder before punching out with the Christmas Ornament punch and I snipped the top off each and replaced it with a silver version. They appear to be suspended from the branches with a line of piercing - made easy with one of the Essential piercing templates.

The Rudolph Day challenge requires two cards, so this photo is to show that I'm not cheating!

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

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree wood or cling, That's the Ticket wood or cling

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, scrap of Brushed Silver

Punches: Ticket punch, Christmas Ornament punch
Other: Basic rhinestones, Essentials piercing templates, mat and tool, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Big Shot

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.

Never mind April baubles, it's April showers we'll be looking out for this weekend, so have your rainbrellas at the ready ladies! Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

When Stampin' Up inks get the blues

Have you seen the latest Less is More challenge? It's all about the colour blue - and the lovely Lizy Bartaby from my team is sponsoring this week too! I got all inky for this one using two of my favourites blues and the emboss-resist technique. Come and have a look:

I've gone with a simple layout that I use often, with a textured panel to add interest and a scene cut out with my 2 1/2" circle punch layered on top.

The clouds are stamped in versamark using a splatter image from Stampin' Up's brilliant Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I heat embossed them using clear embossing powder before stamping the trees from  Lovely as a Tree over the top with stazon ink. The trees were stamped again on a post it note and I cut the foreground away from the sky to create two masks. One was held over the foreground while I smeared my Coastal Cabana ink pad over the sky area and the other over the sky while I dragged the Pacific Point pad over the foreground area. I was trying to recreate a screen print style so I chose slightly crazy colours!

The sentiment is from the Express Yourself set which is full of phrases and words in this beautiful flowing style. This is one of the exclusive hostess sets, which are usually available with orders over £150 but members of my Stampers 6 club also have the opportunity to get hold of them for free. If you're interested in joining my club, click here for more information.

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

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Lovely as a Tree, Express Yourself

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point classic inks, black stazon ink

Card stock: Whisper White smooth and core'dinations

Other: Versamark, Clear embossing powder, heat tool, 2 1/2" circle punch, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop 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 definitely have the winter blues this week as it's nearly the end of the holidays. As my children are getting older I don't see as much of them as I used to as they have their own things to do, but the house always seems quiet when they go back to school. There's one more day before real life starts again though so, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the cinema!

See you tomorrow,

Lovely as a Tree - That's the Ticket!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... but it wouldn't be Christmas if I hadn't made at least one card using Lovely as a Tree! Come and have a look:

This card was made by cutting out a 2 1/2" circle and creating a snow scene with ink pads and the 'direct to card stock' technique ( I love doing this and it's so easy!) I stamped the fir tree image from Lovely as a Tree several times in the foreground and added snow to the branches using the Stampin' Chalk marker.

This beautiful label from That's the Ticket gives the snowy scene a bit of a twist. I stamped in it Cherry Cobbler ink, cut it out with the coordinating punch and attached it to the circle with a staple. A tiny bakers twine bow is the finishing touch.

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

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, That's the Ticket

Ink: Soft Sky, Crisp Cantaloupe, Summer Starfruit, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green

Card stock: Very Vanilla

Other: Stampin' Chalk marker, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine, 2 1/2" circle and Label punches

You can order from my online shop 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.

Well you know, I think it's time to wind down here and take a break for the holidays. I'd love to say I'm all prepared but the reality is that there's lots to be done! Yesterday I finally got round to finishing writing my Christmas cards and when my husband came in from work he found me chopping up salad for dinner and muttering about which postage stamp to use. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Oh nothing," I said separating lettuce leaves. "Do you know how thick first class letters can be?" There was a pause. "Er, I'm not sure," said my husband. "It's not really the season for them is it?" I looked up in disbelief. "Don't be ridiculous," I said crossly. "It's Christmas! Everyone's sending cards!" There was another pause and then my husband asked: "What have cards got to do with lettuce?"

Have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are and I'll be back soon with some new and exciting projects!

Hugs,

One layer Christmas card - and some winners!

I have an exciting announcement to make today so scroll right down to the end of the post for that. Meanwhile, I have a card to show you - probably my favourite Christmas card I've designed this year in fact! Come and see:

I love this flowing sentiment from Delightful Dozen. I stamped it in Early Espresso ink onto Stampin' Up's ready-made note cards - these are the perfect weight for one layer cards, are made of beautifully smooth, quality card stock and come with their own envelopes to make life even easier!

Here's a close up of the stamping and you can see that I made my spray of foliage fit the shape of the sentiment. The stamps were chosen from three different stamp sets because it's always fun to put different stamps together and you always come up with something unique - why  not try it?!

I'm going to link this card up with Make My Monday where the theme is a Clean and Simple Christmas card; and 52 {Christmas} card throwdown where we're picking a previous challenge (I've chosen the July colour palette of dark red, dark brown, dark green and ivory.)

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

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Joyful Christmas, Bright Blossoms, Delightful Dozen (sentiment)

Ink: Gumball Green, Early Espresso plus markers

Card stock: Notecards and envelopes

Other: Stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop 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.

Can you hear a drum roll?! Yes, it's time to make that exciting announcement...

My Christmas prize draw winners

As a special thank you to my customers, I laid on a special prize draw at the end of last month and everyone who placed an order with me between 25th November - 15th December was automatically entered.

I have used a Random Selector to choose the winners and they are:

Ann Rosie from Fife wins 1st prize, a cling mount Gorgeous Grunge stamp set

Stephanie Brown from County Down wins 2nd Prize, a cling mount Oh Goodie stamp set

Irene Dunn from Tyne & Wear wins 3rd prize, a Tag-a-Bag accessories set

Congratulations ladies, I'm delighted for you all! Your prizes will soon be winging their way to you through the post.

I've been out Christmas shopping with each of my children and have found that some have been more prepared than others... Yesterday evening was the turn of my youngest son and suffice it to say that eventually I found a bench in the shopping centre, sat down with him and said we weren't moving from it until he'd thought of a great gift for each of the people he was getting presents for! It all happened quite quickly after that!

I'll be back tomorrow with more of my Christmas makes. Hope to see you then.

Hugs,

Three minutes with a mask

Yes, it's Thursday again where each week I make a card in just three minutes. Today's card was the best fun ever and if I wasn't preparing for tomorrow's big birthday, I'd have made hundreds of them in all the colour schemes I could think of! Come and see:

My card base was masked leaving a square exposed in the centre. I swiped this square with a variety of ink pads (Stampin' Up's new-style ink pads are brilliant for this technique and you get a real intensity of colour.) and stamped the bare trees from Lovely as a Tree over the top. The mask was then peeled away.

You can see that I should really have waited for it to dry a little longer as it the ink has bled a bit but actually I rather like the arty effect. I finished the card with this lovely sentiment from Express Yourself.

I'll link this card up with this week's 'one layer thank you card' challenge at Less is More and also CAS on Sunday where the challenge is to make a one layer card.

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

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Express Yourself

Ink: Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Crisp Cantaloupe, Soft Sky, Early Espresso

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop 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.

This card was very fast to make but I lost the advantage by laughing like a drain over my own droll post title! My daughter has discovered new similes for laughing and her favourites are 'laughing like a pancake' and 'laughing like a plastic bag'! Oh dear, that's set me off again... and if you're thinking that I'm sounding ever so slightly hysterical today you'd be right! Am I ready for the birthday celebrations tomorrow? Erm...!

See you tomorrow,

Through the Christmas Morning Meadow window

Did you see this card I posted yesterday featuring a little bird looking out of a window? Well here's the Christmas version I promised you:

When I made yesterday's card, I stamped the image first then used the 1" square punch to cut squares out of the stamped image before arranging into a 'window'. Today's card is different: this time I made a window template using the punch then sponged and stamped the scene into it.

The trees are stamped with the fir tree from Stampin' Up's wonderful Lovely as a Tree stamp set. Every year I bring this gorgeous set out to make at least one new Christmas card design! Can you see the snow? I dotted it on using the new Stampin' Chalk Marker, a gorgeous opaque white permanent marker - love this!

Here's my little robin. I inked him up in a Baked Brown Sugar ink pad, added markings to the rubber with a Crumb Cake marker and his bright chest with Tangerine Tango ink applied with a sponge dauber. He's been cut out using my sharp paper snips. You may wonder what on earth he's doing indoors... well, it's his house of course!

I adore the tickets in the That's the Ticket stamp set. There's a handy coordinating punch and you can punch the tickets out and use them as sentiments or tags. This one has been cut out using the coordinating ticket punch, stuck onto the card front and a staple added for embellishment.

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

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree. That's the Ticket, Morning Meadow (hostess set)

Ink: Soft Sky, Garden Green, Gumball Green, Baked Brown Sugar, Tangerine Tango

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Crumb Cake marker, Stampin' Chalk marker, 1" square and Ticket punches, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop 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 wish the That's the Ticket stamp set had been around when my youngest son was little - he'd have loved it. He used to make beautiful tickets for all sorts of concerts and plays and hand them out to us. Sometimes there would be a performance but often there would just be the ticket! Once there was a fabulous ticket promising a never-before-seen extravaganza featuring my son and his amazing saxaphone solos. It sounded fantastic but the show did not go on as my son has never played the saxaphone or indeed showed any inclination to do so!

It's three Minute Thursday here tomorrow, so I'll be back with a super-speedy card! See you then,

3 minute get well with trees

It's Three Minute Thursday here today so it's time to make a quick card. One of my 'go to' techniques for  fast cards is sponging - you can make an arty one layer card using stamps, ink and sponges in minutes! To make this card even quicker, I've used the pre-cut and folded notecards on p.162 of the annual catalogue; they're good, heavy card stock, perfect for one layer cards, and they come with envelopes too. Come and see what I made:

Living in the gentle countryside of north Buckinghamshire, I'm often inspired by the changing seasons. At the moment summer is giving way to autumn and it's prompted me to bring out my tree stamps. I started by stamping the row of trees from Lovely as a Tree  and roughly sponging in the sky and the foreground. Next came the Serene Silhouettes tree, stamped twice, in Gumball Green. I sponged more ink over the foreground and disguised the joins with markers before adding texture over the top using the top of the oak tree stamp.

The sentiment is from So Sorry. I love the high-impact font of the words 'So sorry' in this set and there's a choice of different phrases to add to it - including 'for the loss of your beloved pet' and 'this is late'.

It's been a getting everyone well kind of week here on Crafting Clare's Paper Moments and I'm not the only one! Less is More is challenging us to make one layer get well cards too so this can be my second entry there.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Serene Silhouettes, So Sorry
Ink: Old Olive, Soft Sky, Blushing Bride, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Gumball Green
Card stock: Pre-cut note cards
Other: Markers, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop 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.

And as a special thank you for shopping with me, you'll get a free gift and a handmade card when you place your first online order with me during September.


My daughter, who has definitely been struck down by the lurgy, came downstairs yesterday morning looking heavy-eyed. "Bub," she said. "I dode think I can eat eddy breakfast this bording!" Whenever my children tell me they can't do something I immediately say: "Course you can Malcolm! Just stick this up your nose and you'll be fine!" because of the Vicks Sinex adverts of the 70s. I'm only joking I hasten to add, and wouldn't personally recommend that anyone sticks anything up their nose, but it does cheer the children up and that's the main thing!

Here's one of the old ads in case you fancy a trip down memory lane.



See you tomorrow,

Wildflower Meadow to celebrate a special promotion

I work with a small (but beautifully formed!) group of Stampin' Up demonstrators called the Inkredibles. I feel so proud when one of my team celebrates an achievement and was recently delighted for Jacqueline whose hard work paid off with another promotion. To mark the occasion, I made her a little gift set using some of the new items from the brand new catalogue. Come and see:

I used the gorgeous new Wildflower Meadow embossing folder and matching stamp, my favourite Gingham Garden washi tape, some fabulous chevron designer paper and some core'dinations card stock - both of which now come in all the Stampin' Up colours! And if you're dying to get your hands on these items, they'll be available TOMORROW when the new catalogue goes live!

The retro-style card has a split background and the flower was stamped onto cardstock embossed with the coordinating folder, cut out and embellished with a length of bakers twine.

This little pouch is really easy to make - I must do a tutorial at some stage. I used the divine new Soft Sky for the base and decorated it with the chevron design from the new Patterns designer paper stack. I love this little tag from the Creatively Yours stamp set.

Inside the pouch is a little tag stamped with the a tree from Lovely as a Tree and accented with more chevron paper and an adorable little arrow clip from the new Essentials Hardware Clip collection. Suspended from a strip of card stock is a tiny balloon charm, made with the retiring Up, Up and Away stamp set, which Jacqueline can clip onto her Inkredibles charm bracelet. All my team members get one of these bracelets when they achieve their first promotion and each time they promote again, I make a new charm for them to add to it.

This little box was made with the same products as the card and pouch and contains...

... chocolate of course!  After all, it's hard work promoting and a girl has to keep her strength up!

• There's room for new members of the Inkredibles and I'd love it if you joined us. The starter kit costs only £99 and I am here to give you as much help as you need. Hobby demonstrators and business demonstrators are equally welcome in my team! Click here to find out more.

Here's what you'll need to make this set
Stamps: Wildflower Meadow (available tomorrow), Delightful Dozen, Creatively Yours, Up, Up and Away (retiring)
Ink: Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Soft Sky, Whisper White, Core'dinations Early Espresso
Other: Markers, Wildflower Meadow embossing folder, big shot, Early Espresso bakers twine, Striped organdy ribbon (retiring), corner rounder, Colour Collection designer paper stack, Gingham Garden washi tape, Essential Hardware Clips, 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.

The weather was glorious at the weekend - perfect for the F1 Grand Prix held at Silverstone which isn't far from us. We're not huge motor racing fans in our family but we do love the Red Arrows display which kicks the event off each year. We go to a local vantage point to watch this and it's always incredible.

We were trying to work out what shapes the planes were making and at one point my youngest son thought they were making the Vodafone logo. "Yodaphone?" said my husband, mishearing much to our entertainment. Now how would that go? "Hello? Called you I have!" Yes - I think that could definitely catch on!

I'll be back tomorrow with a tour of my favourites from the new catalogue. Don't miss it!!!

A piercing glow

I made a quick card for the Less is More challenge on Saturday but piercing continued to occupy my mind and I had another idea, this time for a Christmas card. Come and have a look:

Stampin' Up do two styles of paper piercing templates, the Festive ones and the Essentials ones; they come in packs of three and both packs coordinate with lots of the punches and framelits. I've used the concentric circles on one of the Essentials templates for this card. They're designed to be used individually with the circle punches, but I love the look of all or several of the circles together (see another example here) and it made me think of the glow you get from a candle.

I've been using my Watercolour Wonder crayons with a blender pen lately (the cards will be posted soon!) and I thought the technique would work well for a flame. Can you guess how I cut the flame out? Yes, it's the wing from the 2 step bird punch! That punch will be making the tea next!

The candle is made using my Simply Scored and Stampin' Up's lovely thick vellum - I scored the candle shape, used my stylus on my squishy craft mat to 'colour it in' and make wax drips, and cut it out with my sharp paper snips. It's been in my mind since before last Christmas to see if this would work and I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out  - quite waxy-looking!

I grounded the candle with some pine branches, a gorgeous Cherry Cobbler seam binding bow, a sentiment tag and some fussy-cut holly. This probably isn't the most CAS card I've ever made but there's still plenty of breathing space so I'm hoping I'll get away with it!

Now, what's the date today? Yes, it's the 25th so that means it's Rudolph Day over at the lovely Sandra's blog and I can enter my Christmas card - how's that for planning?!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Beautiful Season, Lovely as a Tree, Petite Pairs
Ink: Always Artichoke, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Vellum
Other: Essentials paper-piercing pack, Watercolour Wonder Crayons, blender pen, Real Red marker, Simply Scored, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, 2-step bird punch
I'D BE DELIGHTED TO 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 PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Add a free Sale-a-bration item from this list for every £45 you spend!

I can never look at a candle without thinking of the wonderful Two Ronnies Fork Handles sketch. One of the lovely things about having children is that you can share all your old favourite comedy moments with them and my daughter and I have just been doubled up over this one. Here it is for a bit of Monday morning viewing entertainment (well it beats hoovering!)



See you tomorrow,

Stampin' Up shimmer paint scene

Stampin' Up shimmer paint makes the most wonderful glimmer mist and faux mother of pearl using the Champagne Mist and Frost White versions but what about the Platinum? I was inspired to experiment by Create a Scene where the challenge is to create a winter scene. Come and see:

I made my scene by dabbing the paint onto glossy card stock and then sponging Pacific Point ink down the side. The Lovely as a Tree image was stamped over the top once using white stazon ink, then again with black stazon using a stamp-a-majig to offset it slightly. I swiped the bottom of the panel with versamark ink and embossed with white embossing powder to create a snowy foreground.

Here's another photo taken from a different angle to show you how the image changes in different lights - it's all quite shimmery and makes a great wintery-looking sky.

The glossy panel was attached to Pacific Point card stock which had been punched using the Word Window punch. The sentiment is stamped in the negative space - it's from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is the perfect size to fit this punch.

This was the Christmas card my lovely Stampers 6 club ladies received this year, so I made six of them...

... and this is the back of the card. I think it's a nice touch to stamp the card with a 'created by' stamp - this one is from the Creatively Yours set which has several '© Stampin' Up' images that you can use if you want to sell your cards. I signed my name using a Pacific Point marker - I love the way you can make everything coordinate with Stampin' Up products.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Creatively Yours
Ink: Stazon white and black, Pacific Point classic ink
Card stock: Glossy white, Whisper White, Pacific Point
Other: Platinum shimmer paint, Word Window punch, Pacific Point marker, versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool, stamp-a-majig
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 +44 (0) 1280 820593. Please note that today is the last day to order if you want delivery before Christmas!

You'll be glad to know I survived my party weekend although I needed a restful day yesterday to get over my late nights. My daughter, who has a job at a local hotel, entertained me with stories about various parties she'd been waitressing at over the weekend. The highlight was her description of the end of a fancy dress party where she'd encountered Cruella de Vil comforting a distraught and rather worse for wear Tinkerbell!

I'll be back tomorrow to share a gift I took along for the hostess of one of the parties I attended at the weekend. See you then,