Butterflies on inky strips

My time is not my own at the moment so most of my cards are being made a week or two in advance. That means that I can't really join in with the weekly challenges as I would normally, but at Make My Monday the team are taking a break so we have a month to create something for the latest challenge - to make a card using yellow, bright green and fuchsia. I notice that the challenge at Addicted to Stamps is to use markers too so my card fits in there too. Come and have a look:

Inky backgrounds like this are such fun and quick and easy too: I took three markers (Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade and Melon Mambo) and scribbled in strips onto an acrylic block, spritzed it with water and stamped into onto my card stock.

I added butterflies die cut with my Beautiful Wings embosslits die, using colours to match the background.  Those useful markers came in handy again to colour some white bakers twine to match the butterflies. TIP: Laying the twine on the matching ink pad while colouring it with the marker gives better coverage, quicker.

I liked the idea of stamping the sentiment in Melon Mambo too - it looks as if everything is changing colour as your eye travels up.

What you'll need to make this card:
Stamps: Thank You Kindly
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo
Card stock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo
Other: Markers, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, white bakers twine, acrylic block E, 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. The set is also available to buy for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

My daughter has a job at a hotel and she's often asked to waitress at weddings and other events. Yesterday, when I asked her how it had gone at the weekend, she told me it had all been fine but that she'd come to one table just as someone was finishing an anecdote and hadn't been able to get it out of her mind. This is what she heard: "... and that's when the lead singer fell face first onto the tennis court with jelly all over his face!" I think I'd have had to ask!

See you tomorrow,

Pocket Silhouettes and other wild flowers

I'm lucky enough to have been asked to be guest designer at Make My Monday this month and I've thoroughly enjoyed visiting all the entrants as well as enjoying the regular design team's samples. If you fancy joining in this week you'd be very welcome! The new challenge is 'Floral - featuring Wild Flowers and Grasses', so I thought it would be fun to rustle up one of my favourite sponged scenes. Come and see:

It is so quick and easy to make these kind of scenes and it looks as if you've spent ages over them! I sponged Pool Party ink over the top of damp watercolour paper and Wild Wasabi and Lucky Limeade inks over the bottom. The Pocket Silhouettes stamps were stamped over the top of this and then the edges of the card stock were sponged with darker inks.

This little cluster is a mixture of stamped and fussy-cut images, and a punched leaf, stapled to the sponged background and tied up with a piece of linen thread.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes  and is stamped into a frame in the Little Additions set. You can also see in this photo that I set the sponged scene inside a frame scored with my Simply Scored board which makes this kind of accuracy SO easy!

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

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Nature Walk, Autumn Days, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Little Additions

Ink: Basic Black, Pool Party, Wild Wasabi, Lucky Limeade, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory, Whisper White, Watercolour paper, Always Artichoke

Other: Markers, small oval punch, two step bird punch, stapler, linen thread, paper snips, stamp-a-majig, Simply Scored

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.

Today's card reminds me of the first time we went camping. We'd practised putting the tent up at home so were pretty confident, but found that when it came to it, the tent had no desire to sit nicely on the pitch but preferred to lurch drunkenly into the hedge where there was a fine crop of stinging nettles! We had a lovely time though and I remember the children spent all evening quietly collecting grass seeds in bowls!

Happy Monday!

Postage Stamp punch male card

Good morning! It's time to start the week with a male card as usual and today I've been inspired by the Make My Monday challenge with the month's theme of Male Cards and this week featuring Birds or Animals. Come and see:

Yes, I just had to use my Postage Stamp punch again - I love it to bits! (By the way, this punch won't be available after the end of this month so, if you love it as much as I do, don't miss it!) I sponged ink into a mask made by snipping a square out of a post it note and stamped a bird before removing the mask. The Postage Stamp punch was positioned over the inked square and it was cut out. Here's a close up:

You may recognise the layout as being this fabulous sketch at CAS-ual Fridays. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first but there are all sorts of possibilities!

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

Stamps: Nature Walk, Young Vermillion, Happiest Birthday Wishes (hostess set)

Ink: Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Pool Party, Whisper White craft ink

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Early Espresso

Other: Postage Stamp punch, sponge daubers, paper snips, 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. And don't forget to add a free pack of designer paper if your order is £45 or more (Offer limited to one pack per qualifying order - click here for details).

My daughter has picked up a new word while reading the Sunday Times Style magazine. I found this out when I suggested that she might feel more in control of her life if she were to tidy her room. "Just look at all your clothes everywhere!" I said. "Oh that's not a mess," she said. "That's my floordrobe!"

Thanks for dropping in today. I shall be back tomorrow with a 21st birthday card so do come and have a look if you have a minute.

Hugs,

Male card for a stamp collector!

Good morning! The holidays are over, the children have all gone back to school with porridge in their tummies this chilly spring morning, and I'm starting the week with a male card as usual. At Make My Monday this month the overall theme is Male Cards and this week's challenge is Sports and Hobbies, so that's what inspired today's card. Come and have a look:

My brother collected stamps when he was a boy and I remember his excitement about the possibility of one day discovering a rare stamp. I loved his album with its pages of colourful stamps. One of the must-haves from the spring mini catalogue in my opinion is the Postage Stamp punch  - I love being able to make postage stamps in any design I like! The punch is only available until the end of the month, so if you'd like one you'll need to order it soon.

To make the stamps in this card I first cut a 2.5cm (1") square into a post it note and used it as a mask, stamping the aeroplane into the hole and sponging a background with a sponge dauber. The planes were then coloured with markers and the stamps cut out with the Postage Stamp punch which gives them their distinctive border.

I do like a tag on a card! This luggage label-style tag is made from Crumb Cake card stock; I glued a punched circle to it and cut a hole through both layers with my cropadile before threading it with white bakers twine.

This sentiment is from the For My Family set which is so useful for personalising cards and other projects. Uncles, in-laws, teachers, siblings... you name them, everyone gets a mention in this brilliant set!
Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Ain't Love Grand (hostess set), For My Family

Ink: Early Espresso, Bashful Blue, Peach Parfait, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Wisteria Wonder, Riding Hood Red

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: Markers, 3/4" circle punch, cropadile, white bakers twine, Postage Stamp punch, sponge daubers, paper snips, 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. And don't forget to add a free pack of designer paper if your order is £45 or more (Offer limited to one pack per qualifying order - click here for details).

As usual, the end of the holiday signals a major clear up so I'll be changing beds, sorting piles of laundry and wielding a hoover and cleaning cloths today. There might just be time to squeeze in a quick card though so do pop back tomorrow.

Hugs,

Hello purple Stampin' Up rabbit!

If you've been reading my blog lately, you'll know that the children and I have been watching films from before the '60s. One of our favourites was Harvey, a gentle comedy starring the wonderful James Stewart as Elwood P Dowd whose best friend is an invisible six-foot-three-and-a-half-inch rabbit... Well, what's good enough for Jimmy Stewart is certainly good enough for me - although my pal today has gone the other way and is just under 2cm tall! I'm making no sense at all am I? Well come and have a look at my rabbit:

Isn't he adorable? He is another image from the brilliant Perfect Postage stamp set from the new mini catalogue. The set contains four fabulous images and it's easy to make postage stamps from them with one click of the coordinating punch. I've not chosen to do that today...

... although I did use the punch to make this fancy edged windmill! The designer paper is from the Regals Patterns assortment and that gorgeous brad is a designer printed brad in Wisteria Wonder. I must confess to not thinking much of these when I first saw them in the catalogue, but they are gorgeous in real life and I have all sorts of plans for them now! Let's zoom in on my little rabbit:

He's standing in grass borrowed from the Easter Blossoms set - another set from the new mini catalogue. I'm really pleased with the way you can see the grass through the sentiment, which I stamped with my Just Perfect alphabet in scrumptious Concord Crush. I've become rather attached to the colour purple this week thanks to this week's Less is More challenge, so I thought I'd pop another entry in; and of course the starting point for this card was the rabbit, so that fits in rather nicely with the challenge at Make My Monday which is asking for cards with an animal theme this week. This is also a pretty clean and simple card which is exactly what Young Crafters Unite have asked for!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Perfect Postage, Easter Blossoms, Just Perfect alphabet

Ink: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade

Card stock: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Very Vanilla

Other: Markers, Regals Patterns designer paper, Postage Stamp punch, designer printed brad in Wisteria Wonder, 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. 

Stamping the rabbit today reminded me of a book I used to read to my boys when they were tiny - 'I love you Blue Kangaroo' by Emma Chichester clark. It's a sweet and beautifully illustrated story about a soft toy who is its owner's favourite toy until a series of new toys come along. My oldest son always used to imagine being the Yellow Cotton Rabbit and so, for quite a long time, I would tuck him into bed, give him a big hug and say: "Goodnight Yellow Cotton Rabbit!" He was always very pleased by this. My daughter was fond of the Babar stories when she was tiny and once disconcerted me by wishing me "Goodnight Queen Celeste!" I mean really - an elephant!

Thank you for joining me today and for leaving me your comments and suggestions. I hope you have a lovely weekend and I shall see you very soon.

Hugs,