I'm wild about Wild About Flowers!

There are so many beautiful new Stampin' Up stamp sets to showcase, and I'm running out of time to show them all, but Wild About Flowers is definitely somewhere at the top of the list! It's a set with lots of lovely retirement sentiments but those gorgeous flowers are perfect for everything else as well!

When I first discovered Stampin' Up, I loved making this style of card: sponged backgrounds and wild meadow scenes stamped in the foreground. That was five years ago and I still love it!

This scene was sponged into a mask made with an oval framelit and I added a 'frame' with another oval, the next size up. Check out those tiny little butterflies! They're from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set, a photopolymer stamp set that is SO useful!

Subtles inks are best for sponged backgrounds  - I used Soft Sky and So Saffron deepening to Old Olive for this scene, stamping the flowers in Old Olive and Melon Mambo. It looks lovely and summery (unlike the view from my window of leaden skies and wildly tossing trees. It seems that summer is taking a break here in the heart of England!) TIP: I often turn a flower stamp 180 degrees and repeat-stamp the stem to give a bit of depth to my scenes.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Ovals Collection Framelits Die £24.00	Wild About Flowers Photopolymer Stamp Set £19.00	Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.00	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Brights Stampin' Write Markers £27.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

My family and I have got into the habit of 'animal speak'. For example, if someone does something nice like offering you a cup of tea, instead of thanking them you'd say 'Wags at you!" If something bad happens you might say 'Growls menacingly!' or 'Hisses at it!' Is it just us or do other animal owners do this?!

Don't miss the artisan blog hop tomorrow will you? It will be my last outing as an artisan designer for Stampin' Up and it will be a great hop I promise you!

One layer card with a screen print style background

I've been so impressed with the watercolour background image from Stampin' Up's Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set and have been trying out different ways of using it. I'm excited about the fun technique on today's card - come and see:

Do you like this screen print-style background? I used markers to create it, colouring one half of the stamp with Wild Wasabi ink and the other half in Soft Sky before huffing on it and stamping.

You get to see the fab texture of the stamp in this close up - I love it to bits! I stamped the flowers from Cottage Greetings over the top then reached for my markers to colour in the flowers and doodle some grass.

The card was finished with this gorgeous 'thanks', also from Cottage Greetings, and a single candy dot on the tallest flower. All done!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.00	Cottage Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set £23.00	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers £13.50	Brights Candy Dots £5.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

If anyone is wondering how Eva pup is getting on, she's 10 months old now. Her puppy chewing days seem to be over so I bought her a nice, soft bed. She was very excited when she saw it. For the first couple of days she alternated between ignoring it, having a rough and tumble with it and trying to make puppies with it! I decided to try hiding some prawns in it and you'll be glad to know peace has been restored!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you again on Tuesday :)

Vintage Leaves and sequins

Regular followers of my blog may be wondering why I've not posted a card made with Vintage Leaves yet, given that I can't resist a leaf stamp! Well I certainly couldn't resist this fab photopolymer set and here's its first outing:

I'm loving the detail on these beautiful leaves and there are six other designs to choose from! I used the splodge background I used on this card yesterday, this time in Sahara Sand. Doesn't it look different?! There's a huge trend for these watercolour-style splodges and this one is probably the best I've seen yet :)

The leaves were stamped over the top using Mossy Meadow ink and I coloured the inside of them with Pear Pizzazz ink. I love the olive tones with the gold of the sequins!

The sentiment is another from Cottage Greetings which was out on my desk. I am in love with the gorgeous flowing font in this set!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.00	Cottage Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set £23.00	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Gold Sequin Trim £4.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Thanks for joining me today. It's the official Stampin' Up Artisan design team blog hop tomorrow and the team and I have been working hard to inspire you so do come back here and see what we've all been up to!

Perpetual Birthday Calendar kits and cards

Have you seen the Perpetual Calendar kit on p.153 of the Stampin' Up annual catalogue? It's great fun to make and so useful for reminding you about your loved ones' birthdays each month and because it's perpetual, you can use it for years to come! I have the stamp set (p.12) that coordinates with the kit and I've found that it also comes in very handy for your scrapbooking/Project Life pages and of course for making cards - like this one:

Watercolour splodge backgrounds are all the rage and so easy with the stamp included in this set! I stamped it repeatedly in Pool Party ink, stamping off once after each re-inking. Check out the fab texture in this close up:

Isn't it great?! The sentiment comes from a lovely new stamp set called Cottage Greetings. Stampin' Up has come up with so many fresh new fonts in this catalogue and this is another of my favourites :)

I used the firework bursts (or that's what I think of them as anyway!) and a sprinkling of the new sequins from the Brights assortment. A frame scored with the Simply Scored tool adds a little extra detail.

GO SHOPPING IN MY ONLINE SHOP NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.00	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Brights Sequin Assortment £4.50	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock £6.50	Perpetual Birthday Calendar Project Kit £14.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

This evening I was talking to my son and he questioned my use of the word 'we'. I smiled and explained that I was using the royal 'we'. Quick as a flash he said: "So what comes after the royal wee? The royal flush!" He doubled up with laughter and sauntered off. Thank goodness my daughter comes back home tonight and we can get a bit more sophisticated with our comedy!

See you tomorrow,