Oh Hello - it's a chevron tree this Christmas!

I actually made one of these cards at the beginning of the week, inspired by the Tree theme at Less is More, but didn't get round to blogging it with all the excitement over Stampin' Up discounting all those stamp sets (see above!) Since then, I've been looking at my discounted sets and it occurred to me that I could make my stylised tree with the Oh Hello set too. I'm probably making no sense at all (no change there then!) but come and have a look anyway:

This is the first one I made - a curve-cornered panel topped with a simple tree shape made with the Chevron punch and decorated with a single gem. I added the sentiment from Wishing You, which was coloured with markers to get the two colours. Here's a close up of that fun little tree:

The second card is designed along the same lines but using the patchwork-style chevron stamp from Oh Hello. I stamped it in Gumball Green and used Raspberry Ripple card stock (it's a lovely dark pinky red not the bright red it appears in the photo!)

And here's a close up of the tree:

I used a marker to add a trunk for my tree and then stamped the edging stamp over the tree using Garden Green and getting the positioning right with the aid of my stamp-a-majig. In keeping with the homespun style of the stamp, I added a heart to top my tree and gave it a little pot to sit in by snipping the top and bottom off a larger punched heart.

Here's what you'll need to make both cards

Stamps: Wishing You, Oh Hello

Ink: Gumball Green, Garden Green classic inks plus markers

Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White

Other: Chevron, small heart and 2 step owl punches, Basic Rhinestones, 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.

Customers placing orders of £250+

will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get

freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,

why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?

My daughter was lucky enough to go along to along to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's production of Richard II yesterday evening. I'm afraid I lost all my dignity when she told me. "Sqeeee!" I shrieked, "David Tennant's in that!" and then tried to recover by adding: "and of course it's a marvellously educational opportunity." After that I gave up any semblance of maturity and as my daughter left the house called after her: "Give my love to Davy T!"

The gorgeous er I mean the esteemed actor
David Tennant plays Richard II

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

A three minute Oh Hello for Christmas

The excitement continues after Stampin' Up discounted 25 of its stamp sets by 25% as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations. I've been using some of my favourite sets from the list this week and today, while using Oh Hello for my Three Minute Thursday card, I discovered a new technique by accident! Come and see:

If you stamp a solid stamp over the chevron oval from Oh Hello, the chevron shows through - how amazing is that?! The new-style ink pads are perfect for this with their brilliant coverage.

You may be thinking that the sentiment and fussy-cut chevron don't look very quick but they were! The patchwork chevron is one stamp so it was a case of stamping it in one go, and then it was such a simple shape to cut out with six snips of my sharp paper snips. My top tip with this style of sentiment is to cut your main panel slightly longer than you need it; you can then add your sentiment exactly where you want it using your stamp-a-majig, before trimming it off in a strip using your trimmer and attaching it to your card wherever you like.

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

Stamps: Oh Hello, Remembering Christmas

Ink: Soft Sky, Midnight Muse, Real Red

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Candy dots, 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.

Customers placing orders of £250+

will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get

freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,

why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?

Ironically I never remember what the Remembering Christmas stamp set is called and end up calling it Oh Deer!  Which reminds me of my youngest son - one of his earliest phrases (if you can call it a phrase) was "Oh deed" by which he meant "Oh dear" - which might give you some insight into life in our house at the time!

See you tomorrow,

The Gently Falling Flower Shop

It's so good to have a weekend at home! We had chores to do but I did get to make a leisurely card for the Less is More challenge where I'm delighted to see the lovely Lizy guesting today! This week's challenge is to 'use  felt or fabric on a CAS card' and at first I thought I might have to sit this one out, but then I spotted the canvas I'd used on yesterday's card - that's fabric isn't it?!

The canvas was stamped with one of the flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set. This was cut out using the coordinating punch and decorated with one of the beautiful antique brads. (I thought afterwards that the punches are really only designed to cut out paper so perhaps I should have cut it out by hand; but it did cut beautifully and didn't seem to do any harm to the punch which is a tribute to its sharpness!)

I stamped some leaf outlines from Gently Falling onto a piece of Very Vanilla card stock and cut a panel out. I cut only partially on one side so that I could trim round the leaf. A border was pierced on both sides for a bit of detail and the canvas flower attached using glue dots. I used a piece of chevron designer paper for the side of the card but it looked a little stark so I inked over it using the same colours as for the flower and that tied everything together nicely.

This bold sentiment comes from the Oh Hello stamp set and I've stamped it twice, once on the card front and then again on the panel, masking the card front off and using a stamp-a-majig to position it.

I've just spotted that CASual Fridays has a lovely autumnal challenge too, 'Fall colours and a leaf', so I think I'll link up there too.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Flower Shop, Gently Falling, Oh Hello
Ink: Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, Early Espresso
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla
Other: Markers, canvas, Essentials paper piercing pack, Pansy punch, Patterns designer paper, antique brads, 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 was such a relaxing start to the day that my daughter and I even managed a little rummage through Pinterest together this morning after breakfast! This is one of the images we saw:

Isn't it striking?! (Sadly we couldn't find a source for it.) My daughter, while appreciating the beauty of the image, is never one to pass up on a comedic opportunity. "You know that moment," she said dreamily. "When you kiss your boyfriend and he turns into birds!"

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you soon,

Express yourself with thinlit dies

I was talking to a lady about the new seasonal catalogue yesterday and was surprised to hear her say that she just can't think about Christmas at this time of year. It wasn't so much the not thinking about Christmas that surprised me, it was that she had assumed the catalogue was just about Christmas. It IS full of exciting festive kits, stamps, papers and embellishments of course (so those that are happy to think about Christmas can get started now!) but there are loads of other fabulous new items too. Today's card was made with one that leapt out at me! Come and see:

Doesn't the die-cut word pack a punch?! It was cut with one of the new Expressions Thinlits dies (p.36 of the seasonal catalogue). TIP: If you find a word doesn't pop easily out of your new die, try tapping the die with your embossing buddy before using it to cut your card stock.

The die says 'thankful' in fact but I chopped the end off with my paper snips to leave the word 'thank' and teamed it with the word 'you' from Oh Hello.  I layered these over some beautifully subtle washi tape strips. One is a herringbone design from the new Season of Style washi tape pack (p.25 of the new catalogue) which I've found works brilliantly with many of the other Stampin' Up designs like this one from the Epic Day pack.

I loved making this simple card and have plenty more ideas up my sleeve for using these dies - watch this space!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Oh Hello
Ink: Pumpkin Pie marker
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Basic Black
Other: Word window punch, Expressions thinlits dies, Big Shot, Epic Day and Season of Style washi tape
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 was talking to my daughter (who must have been taking a brief break from going to parties) yesterday. "You sound like a bally fool to me!" I said, pretending to be a cross posh person. "Oh no Mummy!" she protested. "I wouldn't mind being a ballet foal but not a bally fool!" She does keep me amused!

See you tomorrow,

Going grey gracefully with Stampin' Up!

Along with many other LiMettes this week I've been thinking about 'Shades of Grey' as that is the current theme over at Less is More. Stampin' Up has just introduced a gorgeous new grey into its Neutrals colour family, called Smoky Slate, and the challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl! Come and see:

I went with a linear design featuring the Daydream jumbo wheel, a gorgeous art nouveau-style pattern, inked up with Smoky Slate ink.  There are some grey self adhesive strips in the Tag a Bag accessory kit (on page 158 of the new catalogue) and I found some Basic grey bakers twine and another self-adhesive strip in a retired Simply Sent kit left over from this year's Sale-a-bration promotion.

The strips were taped above the inked section and I used my Simply Scored tool to add a bit of scored texture to the paler top strip. Demands were being made on me at this point (!) so I quickly finished with a fussy-cut sentiment and flower from Oh Hello.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Oh Hello, Daydream jumbo wheel
Ink: Basic Grey, Smoky Slate classic inks, Black Stazon
Card stock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White
Punches: Self adhesive strip from Tag-a-bag accessory kit, self adhesive strip and bakers twine from Happy Hello simply sent kit (retired), paper snips
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 chuckled as I typed the title of this post as there's certainly no other way I'll be going grey gracefully... After a brief foray into hair tinting I've decided that I'm just going to have to go grey disgracefully and that's that!

See you tomorrow with a really quick card for Three Minute Thursday (and there you were thinking you couldn't get much quicker than today's!)

The front door thank you with Best of Flowers

I peeked at the Less is More challenge on Saturday but all the sunshine we're having is making me feel colourful and my front door is black in a white frame, so I didn't feel ragingly inspired. While my new Best of Flowers stamp set was out though, an idea did occur to me - come and see:

What a nightmare it was photographing this little number! But it does look rather elegant in real life, honestly! To make it, I cut a panel of Basic Black card stock and stamped the daisy image from Best of Flowers down the side using versamark. This was then heat embossed using clear embossing powder.

While stamping the daisies, I left an indent for a sentiment and chose this one from Oh Hello, which I thought worked well with the bold design. It was stamped in versamark again but this time I used white embossing powder to heat emboss it.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Oh Hello
Ink: Versamark
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black
Other: White and clear embossing powder, heat 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.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here but, to make way for new items, some of our favourites will be retiring. Click the links to see lists of STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

This is my front door, complete with triffids, which are actually currently under some kind of control! The front garden is a real sun trap in the afternoons and I occasionally take a book and a cup of tea out there at weekends - hence the chair. The cat thinks it's been put there for her use only of course, so it is also the scene of some unseemly power struggles!

See you tomorrow for more crafting fun,

Oh Hello - and a bit of dottiness!

• Today is the last day for getting extra goodies in your starter kit when you join Stampin' Up! I think you'll agree that getting £155 worth of gorgeous Stampin' Up products for only £99 is a brilliant bargain! Find out all the details here or give me a call on 01280 820593 for a chat about whether joining would work for you.

And so, onto some card-making: I love the Patterns designer paper stacks! Tone-on-tone designs in all the Stampin' Up colours are so useful - particularly for adding pattern to quick cards. When I was designing today's card for my Three Minute Thursday spot, I intended to add a punched flower but then I got carried away with the flower in the Oh Hello stamp set...! If you need a quicker version, just swap the fussy cut flower for a punched flower!

Accurate cutting and wet glue are the keys to this card so thank goodness for my Stampin' Trimmer and the Tombow multipurpose glue which enables you to ease layers into exactly the right position. The designer paper is glued onto the card front and the sentiment panel is stamped and scored before adding to the right of the card.

The flower from Oh Hello is a lovely curved shape so it's great for linking the paper and the sentiment. People often ask me about fussy cutting as I do quite a lot of it. My top tips are: (a) get yourself a pair of decent paper snips (the Stampin' Up ones are long-bladed and very sharp); (b) move the paper rather than the scissors to get a good smooth line and (c) practise - the more fussy cutting you do, the better you'll get at it!

Here's what you'll need for this project
Stamps: Oh Hello
Ink: Pumpkin Pie/Tempting Turquoise
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Patterns designer paper stack in Brights, Simply Scored, markers, paper snips, 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.

• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end today.

It's half term here and I am highly in demand! My youngest son wanted to see Epic at the cinema yesterday so my daughter, who has a provisional driving licence, offered to drive us there to get some experience under her belt. There was a dodgy moment when I discovered my mobile phone was out of charge but my husband said I could borrow his and packed us off. My daughter parked at the cinema and went off shopping while we found that the 2.50 showing of our film had sold out. We bought tickets for the showing an hour later and I sent a message to my daughter to let her know what was happening. This was when I discovered that I couldn't work my husband's phone so my daughter got this message which, she said, made her double up laughing:

We jad to go fpr the 3.50 because tje earlier fil m had sold out. see yoo at 5.30. flippon phome hpw dpes it blppn work! xx

See you tomorrow,

Stippled Blossoms chalkboard-style

• I'm delighted to announce that it will be even easier to go shopping with me now that I have an online shop with links to all the gorgeous Stampin' Up products! Once you've made an account with me, you can shop at any time, day or night (without waking me up!) - and my blog feeds into the shop too so you can check which products you need for your projects if you need to. Do pop over and bookmark it now - and don't forget to let me know what you think!

Meanwhile, Stippled Blossoms is still the set that I can't get enough of and today I'm showing you how it looks stamped chalkboard style (if you've been on my facebook page, you'll know where the inspiration came from!) Come and have a look:

It's easy to create these trendy chalkboard images: you just stamp in Whisper White craft ink, dry it off and stamp or colour over the top with markers. It gives a wonderfully chalky look!

I find it's best to use bright colours because the craft ink really fades them out to authentically chalky shades. I added the centres of the small flowers with my white gel pen.

This bold sentiment has been stamped in versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I scored a frame round the front panel and sponged the edges with more of that Whisper White craft ink to add to the chalkboard feel. This sentiment never fails to make me giggle as it reminds me of Kenneth Williams! I shall be keeping it for when my daughter leaves home and I need to send her a note card as I know it will make her giggle too!

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Oh Hello
Ink: Whisper White Craft ink, Melon Mambo classic ink and markers
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White (for lining)
Other: Simply Scored, White gel pen, versamark, white embossing powder, heat 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 PLACE YOUR ORDER INSTANTLY, GO TO MY ONLINE SHOP OR, IF YOU HAVE QUERIES, SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

I asked my youngest son if he remembered blackboards. "Oh yes," he said. "When I was in year 3 we had a Victorian day and they put a blackboard up instead of the whiteboard and gave us all slates to write on!" I began to feel ancient at this point and hobbled through to the kitchen to make a revivifying cup of tea!

It's Three Minute Thursday tomorrow and I wonder if you can guess what set I'll be using...?! See you tomorrow,