Just Believe it's spring!

I've definitely got that spring feeling now and have been having a lot of fun with spring flowers. Do you remember my tulip card on Sunday? Well now I've come up with some punch crocuses! The St Lukes Charity Challenge, Make My Monday and The Paper Players are all asking for spring cards so I thought my crocuses would be just the thing! Come and see:

Wisteria Wonder, one of this years in-colours, is such a beautiful delicate purple and it's perfect for these crocuses. So how do you make them? It's simple...

 ... just punch two of the large hearts from the Heart to Heart punch and cut one of them in half with a curved cut; colour the vellum with markers - I used Wisteria Wonder with Concord Crush highlights and a touch of Old Olive at the base - and glue them together with the two-way glue pen.

With these two, I cut all the hearts in half so that I could vary the amount the crocus was open. The large image in the Just Believe stamp set is brilliant for making background foliage and I added some leaves made from strips of Vanilla and Ivory card stock with a stripe of Old Olive marker down each side.

I popped the crocuses in a 'basket' made of Early Espresso card stock embossed using the Square Lattice embossing folder, and tied it up with this scrumptious wisteria wonder ruffled ribbon - isn't it gorgeous?!

The card is finished with sentiments put together with my stamp-a-majig. I added the bird from Elementary Elegance with a surprise flash of yellow. I find these little images invaluable for embellishing sentiments.

Don't you just love floral cards? Well, so do loads of people - so they sell really well! Why not send some floral cards in to the St Lukes Charity Challenge this month - you'll find the address on the website; you'll have great fun making them and they'll be sold to raise money to keep the St Lukes hospice open and caring for terminally ill patients and their families.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Just Believe, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Happiest of Birthdays (hostess set), Elementary Elegance (free Sale-a-bration set)

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, Early Espresso

Card stock: Vellum, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Early Espresso, scraps of Naturals Ivory and Very Vanilla

Other: Markers, Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon, Square Lattice embossing folder, Heart to Heart punch, stamp-a-majig, corner rounder

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!

Crocuses always remind me of my youngest son as there was a beautiful bowl of them in the living room the day he was born. I had him at home with the help of two of the most wonderful midwives and it was lovely to retire to my own bed with him when it was all over. Nowadays whenever the crocuses start pushing up in the garden, I know it's time to be planning something exciting for his birthday!

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I'll have a quick card to show you. Do drop in if you have a minute!

Hugs,

Masculine Monday - Everyday Enchantment

Mondays are male card days on my blog and today I wanted to show how designer paper can be a good starting point for a masculine card. I've chosen one of the Everyday Enchantment papers which are free with a £45 order as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion (click here to find out more).

I used this week's sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping to create the first card. This is what the sketch looks like (left) and this is what I came up with (below):

I kept the card neutral with just a flash of colour provided by the strip of designer paper and the sentiment. The stamping above the paper strip is from another free Sale-a-bration set, Fresh Vintage, and I chose it for the tyre mark effect!

One of the things Stampin' Up does brilliantly is coordinate colours, so I could easily have chosen to mat my image in the Pumpkin Pie of the designer paper. Instead I chose to go a shade deeper with Cajun Craze to add a bit of depth - it's a good trick!

I love this motorcycle image, particularly when it's stamped off the edge of a panel like this. I opted to leave it uncoloured to give the designer paper and sentiment more impact.

The sentiment is a combination of various elements from three different stamps. I love doing this and it's so easy with my stamp-a-majig. It also means I have an endless supply of unique sentiments!

Here's another clean and simple masculine card I made using the same designer paper - using it as the focal part of the design this time.

The edges of my Cajun Craze strip are pierced using my mat pack and piercing tool and I like the way it coordinates with the little holes created by placing my Postage Stamp punched squares side by side. I decorated the centres of the pattern on the designer paper with Pumpkin Pie brads...

... adding in a sentiment tag to the one on the left. So there we are - and who'd have thought that a paper pack named Everyday Enchantment would have been so useful for male cards?!

I notice that The Paper Players are asking for CAS masculine cards, so I shall enter these cards into that challenge.

Supplies needed for these cards:

MOTORCYCLE CARD

Stamps: Motorcycle, Fresh Vintage (free Sale-a-bration), Petite Pairs, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Happiest Birthday Wishes (hostess)

Ink: Early Espresso

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory, Cajun Craze

Other: Markers, Everyday Enchantment designer paper (free Sale-a-bration), stamp-a-majig

THANKS TAG CARD

Stamps: Thank You Kindly

Ink: Whisper White craft ink

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso

Other: Pumpkin Pie brads, white embossing powder, heat tool, Mat pack, piercing tool

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!

My children have all gone back to school today so it's time for me to have a bit of a spring clean and tackle the laundry mountain! Have a happy Monday and I'll see you tomorrow.

Hugs,