Watercolour technique using Mosaic Madness from Stampin' Up

It was the birthday of one of my nieces last week so my daughter and I went shopping to choose something pretty for her to wear.  We found the prettiest little sundress which provided the perfect inspiration for her card! Come and see:

To make the panel, I spritzed some watercolour paper with water before sponging a background. Once it was dry I stamped all over it with the little scribbled flower shape from Stampin' Up's Mosaic Madness stamp set using Stazon ink. The flowers were then coloured with inks and an aquapainter.

I love this sentiment which is part of a stamp from the Amazing Birthday set and oh look! Those in-colour sequins have come out yet again! Do buy some - the colours are SO pretty!

This photo shows the card resting against the folded dress, so you can see how I was inspired by the fabric.

I wrapped the dress in plain tissue paper but I think Stampin' Up's beautiful chevron ribbon adds exactly the right touch of prettiness!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS PROJECT HERE
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

Mosaic Madness Clear-mount Stamp Set [130249]	Amazing Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134228]	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172]	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad [126957]	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad [131181]
2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment [133631]	Jet Black StazOn Pad [101406]	6 X 9 Watercolor Paper [122959]	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550]	Blushing Bride 3/4" Chevron Ribbon [130013]

Place an order online at 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.

It was A level results day yesterday, the day my daughter has been waiting for! I knocked on her door while she was getting ready to go to the school to find out whether she'd got the grades she needed. "Are you nervous?" I asked. She nodded. "Yes," she said. "But no matter what happens, at least I'm wearing a cute frock!"

My clever girl got her grades and has her place at Manchester University.

And yes, I have gone to Mumland!

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday.

A Postcard to say congratulations

What a great time I've had using Stampin' Up's new Postcard stamp all week! But of all the cards I've made with it, today's gave me the most pleasure because it was made to congratulate a lovely member of my team who recently reached a milestone in her Stampin' Up journey. Come and see what I made for her:

The Postcard stamp makes a lovely frame for a waterside scene. I inked the parts of Postcard image I wanted with a Midnight Muse marker, stamped it, cut it out and sponged in the background. The birds were stamped over the top...

... you can see that better in this photo. TIP: Try inking these birds with markers using one colour for the actual birds and keeping their reflections the same colour as the background. What do you think of the stamped strip at the bottom of the card? It's from Mosaic Madness and I used it because I liked the way it has the same wood-carved feel as Postcard.

Now, you may have noticed the little package in the top photo.

Are you dying to know what's in it?

Oh go on then...

... It's a bracelet - one of my Team Inkredibles charm bracelets to be precise! Members of my team get one of these when they reach their first goal and then for each milestone after that, they receive another of my charms to attach to it.

I would love to be making another of these little gift sets - this time for you! If you'd like to talk to me about joining my friendly team of Inkredibles, contact me via email or give me a ring on 01280 820593, or click here for more information.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
Stamps: Wetlands, Postcard, Delightful Dozen (sentiment)
Ink: Midnight Muse, Soft Sky, Bermuda Bay, So Saffron, Summer Starfruit
Card stock: Whisper White
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.


It's Friday and the weekend starts here! Last weekend my daughter came into the living room wearing a  top covered in shiny sequins. "Sparkles at you!" she said. I smiled at her. "Oooh - look at you!" I said. "Yes," she said. "Je suis un disco ball! I could walk into a room and say 'yay, the party has arrived - everyone can start dancing now!'" Bless her!

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

A Mosaic Madness birthday gift and card set

After stumbling across Seize the Birthday, a new-to-me challenge last week, I thought I'd link up a birthday set I'd made for one of my lovely nieces. Come and have a look:

Mosaic Madness really is the perfect stamp set for every occasion! Here I've zinged it up with bright colours and bling for a girl's birthday.

The gorgeous bold sentiment is from my favourite sentiment set of the moment, Four You. It stamps beautifully in black stazon ink onto the Gingham Garden washi tape.

The present was tucked into a packet made with designer paper from the Quatrefancy speciality range that coordinates with the Mosaic Madness stamp set. I added an envelope-style flap using core'dinations textured card stock and tied it up with some retired ribbon before adding a tag cut with one of my new Chalk Talk framelits.

Here's what you'll need to make this set
Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Four You
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo classic inks and black stazon
Card stock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight core'dinations
Other:  Quatrefancy designer paper, Mosaic punch, corner rounder, Big Shot, Chalk Talk framelits, Basic rhinestones, markers, Gingham Garden washi tape, 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.

There are just a couple of days left before the summer holidays are upon us and there's great excitement in our house as my children make their plans. Crafting Clare Towers will of course turn into a bed and breakfast for waifs and strays of the hulking great variety and my talents will turn to chauffeuring people about and making an endless stream of meals and snacks... I can't wait!

See you tomorrow,

A little hot, summery Mosaic Madness

What a fabulous weekend we've had here - the sun blazing, a British Wimbledon champion and my husband's birthday celebrations - a big one this year! I'll have more on that this week, including an idea for wrapping an awkward-shaped present... but first, a little Mosaic Madness inspired by the heatwave we've been having:

I just love this set! It's so new and fresh and I love how you can change the mood of it completely by using different colours and embellishments. The first thing I made with the set was a Christmas card (here) but by using hot colours such as Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo with a touch of bling, I've come up with a bit of a Bollywood feel. I can't wait to try some other colour combinations!

The quatrefoil images are gorgeous but let's not forget the versatile background stamps in this set. Here I stamped one of them repeatedly before adding a sentiment from Happy Day. The quatrefoils were stamped and cut out with the matching punch and then I decorated them with punched hearts, flowers and gems. Piercing is a great way to add a little extra definition.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Happy Day
Ink: Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie
Card stock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, scrap of Pumpkin Pie and Pacific Point
Punches: Mosaic, Owl, small Heart, Itty Bitty punch pack
Other: Basic rhinestones, essentials piercing templates and tool, 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.

I love the way my children take it for granted that they make a card for family birthdays - and they're always amazing and personal! Of course, you do need to be a little bit sensitive about a milestone birthday... "This is lovely!" said my husband, opening my youngest son's card. "Is it a rainbow?" My son shook his head. "No, it's a sunset!" he said. I caught my husbands eye. "This year it's a sunset," I said. "Next year it could be a twilight!"

See you tomorrow when I'll be revealing my present to my husband!

How to use Stampin' Up's new in-colours

Each time a new annual catalogue is launched, I'm always thrilled to work with the new in-colours. I was bowled over by this years new colours and have spent some very happy paper moments getting to know them. Come and see:

Pistachio Pudding
This gorgeous new green has quite a lot of blue in it so will pair best with blues, purples and the bluer pinks and reds. It's a lovely ice-cream shade too so other ice cream colours will work well with it. For my tonal sample I chose Garden Green as the darker shade.

Stamped with Summer Silhouettes

Crisp Cantaloupe
I love the vintage feel of this gorgeous colour. It's quite ice cream-ish too (or am I just feeling a bit peckish?!) so the Pistachio is a nice partner for it, and I love the way it looks with browns too. For my tonal sample, I brought in Calypso Coral and Cajun Craze for even more depth.

Stamped with Stippled Blossoms

Baked Brown Sugar
This fabulous new brown is as rich and golden as its name suggests. Try this with pretty much any other colour and it will look wonderful! For my tonal sample I gave some other browns a work out - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.

Stamped with Fine Feathers

Coastal Cabana
Blue greens are so 'now' and this beautiful colour works with so many of Stampin' Up's existing shades! For contrast, hot pinks, reds, yellows and oranges will give a lovely tropical feel but if you want to bring the temperature right down, Pool Party is its paler partner for an icy look. I chose to add in darker shades for my tonal sample with Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo.

Stamped with World Treasures

Strawberry Slush
The fifth new colour has another delicious-sounding name. It's a pink quite different to any in the existing range but is closest to Primrose Petals, though much brighter. I like it with Pacific Point, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green or Crushed Curry. For my tonal sample I gave it a background of Pink Pirouette but Blushing Bride would work well too.

Stamped with Mosaic Madness

The new in-colours come in:
• Smooth card stock
• Core'dinations sandable, textured cardstock
• Ink pads and ink re-fills
• Markers
• Designer paper stacks
• Stretch ruffle ribbon
• Boutique buttons
so there's plenty of room for coordination there!

This has been a pretty long post so I won't bore you with details of the cards. If you have any queries though, or if you'd like to place an order with me, just send an email.
• Don't forget that during the month of July, you'll get a free catalogue with an order over £30, plus a handmade gift from me!

I'll be back tomorrow with a fast card for Three Minute Thursday. See you then!

Mosaic Madness for Christmas

Everything is selling out fast on the retirement lists now and there's all the excitement of the brand new catalogue coming out next month! As a demonstrator I get to pre-order items - such as the fab new stamp set I'm using today. It's called Mosaic Madness and I love its trendy quatrefoil images (and its coordinating embossing folder and punch!) And wouldn't those quatrefoils make great Christmas ornaments...?! Come and see:

I know it's the summer and I shouldn't be thinking of such things, but there are plenty of fab challenge sites to help us make our festive cards all through the year: 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where the challenge is to use pearls and/or sequins; Merry Mondays where there's a great sketch (scroll down to see); and Rudolph Day where the lovely Sandra reminds us to make a Christmas card on the 25th of each month!

I used one of the quatrefoil shapes to stamp my ornaments, decorated them with lots of pearls and doodled string and bows using a marker.

I love the border stamps in this set - this is one of them which I used to form a base for my ribbon-tailed tabs. I embellished one of the tabs with a string of pearls, underlining the sentiment which was put together out of two separate sentiments using my stamp-a-majig.

This is the fabulous sketch from Merry Mondays that I based my card on today:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Delightful Dozen, Made For You (retiring)
Ink: Raspberry Ripple classic ink, Rose Red and Raspberry Ripple markers
Card stock: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple
Other: In colour Patterns designer paper (retiring), Corner rounder, 1" square punch (to make ribbon tails), Basic Pearls, 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.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

Don't you just love it when you go to your computer in the morning and someone has got there first?

Ahhh! It set me up for the day. Bet the CEO of IBM doesn't get perks like this!

See you tomorrow,