Last chance for Sale-a-bration freebies today!

Sale-a-bration ends today so, if you want to join Stampin' Up with extra products in your starter kit, you'll need to do it today! Or, if you want to get free gifts with an order, you'll need to place your order today!

I've had so much fun making projects with the free gifts and I know you will too. Today's card showcases the Decorative Dots embossing folder, the Banner Blast stamp set (and there's a coordinating punch), the Sweet Sorbet designer paper and the fab cord from the Sweet Sorbet accessories pack. You can choose one of these free with every £45 you spend today and there are other products to choose from too!

The designer papers are wonderful with a lovely mix of florals and abstracts but this stripy design especially caught my fancy. I love the contrast with the embossed card stock - I can really see these random dots being useful for snow when it comes to making Christmas cards later on in the year!

I adore the current trend for banners! You can use them to create bunting, or as single tags like this one. I layered my tag with a spray, cut with the Little Leaves die.

The decorative cord comes in the most beautiful colours and is thicker than bakers twine. I nibble a little indent in the side of the panel with a mini punch so that the cord fits neatly around it and attach the panel to the card front with dimensionals so the cord fits nicely behind it.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Banner Blast (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Pool Party

Card stock: Whisper White, Island Indigo

Other: Sweet Sorbet Designer Paper (free with Sale-a-bration),  Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack (free with Sale-a-bration), Little Leaves die, Big Shot, Basic rhinestones, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND TODAY (excl. p&p)

It's been a busy weekend in our household, with chores at the beginning of the weekend balanced out with the most wonderful day of treats for me yesterday. My daughter had suggested we do as the Hungarians do and tie my feet together with ribbon so I couldn't get up and do anything. I declined this treat but was quite happy to pretend! Breakfast arrived while I was still in bed and I was presented with handmade cards filled with lovely messages. When I eventually came downstairs, I was greeted with this:

It's like a little garden - isn't it beautiful?! The boys had various commitments, so my daughter and I went on a frivolous shopping trip and when we returned, we did a little recreational cooking together and gathered everyone together for a feast. After that, my husband generously offered to clear up the outrageous mess we'd made while the boys and I watched a film together. What a great day!

See you tomorrow,

Petal Parade - the leafiest of them all

If you're looking for layout inspiration, the CAS(e) This Sketch challenge never disappoints! There's another cracking sketch there this week and it immediately made me reach for Stampin' Up's Petal Parade free Sale-a-bration set. Come and see:

What do you think? I think it works really well as a mirror image!

I love the strong font from See Ya Later (another set that you can choose free as part of the promotion) and the cursive font from Express Yourself made a nice foil for it, so I used markers and a stamp-a-majig to make a brand new hybrid sentiment. This is so easy to do (click here for a video tutorial) and the possibilities are endless!

I thought this made a nice motif for a male birthday so I made a gift box to go with it. This is another useful basic box to have in your repetoire sp, if you love this idea, look out for my video tutorial coming later in the week!

These will be perfect for my father next month and I can fill the box with something delicious to eat!

Here are the sketch and colour palette I was working from today. Unfortunately I ran out of time to link to ColourQ - the challenge there has closed:

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS PROJECT
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: See Ya Later (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling,
Petal Parade (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling, Express Yourself (hostess set)

Ink: Gumball Green classic ink, plus Island Indigo and Calypso Coral markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate smooth and core'dinations

Other: Labels framelits, Big Shot, Simply Scored, Essentials paper piercing template, mat and tool, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

That gorgeous bedroom in the ColourQ inspiration photo reminds me of a conversation I had with my daughter while looking on Pinterest for ideas for revamping her room.
My daughter: I'd like to be there... you'd get up and make yourself a cup of tea...
Me: Couldn't someone else do that?
My daughter: Well no, because then they'd come in and pester you!
Me: Well you could just hiss at them and watch them scuttle off!

See you tomorrow,

Just Sayin' a wooden thank you

It was my youngest son's birthday recently and he needed cards to write his thanks for all his lovely presents, so I had to come up with a design that a newly teenaged young man would be happy to write in. Here's what I came up with:

I was thinking of school desks, of ink blots, of comic books and, when I thought of my son, a star! The star I used is from the free Sale-a-bration stamp set Banner Blast and it cuts out in one click of the star punch from the Merry Minis punch set.

The panel was stamped in Basic Grey with Stampin' Up's gorgeous Hardwood background stamp. TIP: For even coverage, it's easier to press the panel onto the inked up stamp rather than the other way around. I smeared a Pear Pizzazz ink pad over the wood image for a little colour and then added an ink blot courtesy of the indispensable Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.

British people don't usually send cards with 'Gee thanks' on them unless they're being sarcastic, but it's easy to ink up with markers leaving the 'gee' out. The speech bubbles in the brilliant Just Sayin' stamp set has coordinating framelits so it's quick and easy to cut them out, especially with the magnetic Big Shot platform which holds them firmly in place.

I spotted this fabulous colour palette over at Colour me... this week:

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Just Sayin' wood or cling, Hardwood wood or cling,
Banner Blast (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling, Gorgeous Grunge wood or cling

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Coastal Cabana, Basic Grey classic inks, plus Basic Grey marker

Card stock: Whisper White, Soft Sky

Other: Word Bubbles framelits, Big Shot, Merry Minis punch set, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

When I was a girl, it was obligatory to use an ink pen at school and you'd be given bad marks for any ink blots or messiness. Most of the children wrote with cartridge pens but I was bought a fountain pen, which proved impossible for me to cope with. I couldn't work out how to fill it and it would maliciously spit out ink as I was writing. Looking back, that pen caused me a lot of grief but, weirdly, the first thing I spent my wages on when I first started work was...

... a beautiful yellow Harley Davidson fountain pen, which is one of my favourite possessions and writes like a dream!

See you tomorrow,

3 Minute Banner Blast - without a banner in sight!

I do love a one layer card and they're often quick and simple - just right for my Three Minute Thursday slot.  The Simplicity challenge (now a monthly challenge so I never have to miss it - yay!) provides plenty of inspiration for one layer cards and this month the theme is Just Add Water. Come and see what I made:

I've been playing about with spritzing acrylic blocks and for this card I just drew lines all over my block with a Pear Pizzazz marker, then spritzed, stamped...

... and ended up with a nice grassy background, the perfect home for a lively sentiment like this one from Sassy Salutations.

The grass was crying out for spring flowers so I stamped the little flower from the free Sale-a-bration set Banner Blast around the sentiment. I gave the flowers nice, bright yellow centres and emphasised each with a dot of Crystal Effects.

I notice CAS on Sunday is also looking for one layer cards this week, so I'll link up this card there as well.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Sassy Salutations wood or cling,
Banner Blast (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Wisteria Wonder classic ink, stazon black,
plus Pear Pizzazz  and Daffodil Delight markers

Card stock: Whisper White note cards with envelopes

Other: Acrylic block H, Crystal Effects, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

My eldest son certainly is enjoying his new chair! Yesterday evening, as I was laying out our evening meal on the table, I called up the stairs for everyone to come and eat. Everyone arrived except my son. I called again: "Sweetheart, dinner's on the table!" but he still didn't turn up. I tried again in a slightly (!) sharper tone of voice: "Come on! Your food's getting cold - what on earth are you doing up there!" and was rewarded by him bounding down the stairs. "Sorry," he said. "I was just spinning in my chair!"

See you tomorrow,

Stitched up

Sometimes, when I'm looking for inspiration, I find I need look no further than the snippets box! Of course when rummaging in the box I think of Pixie's Snippets Playground, and when thinking of the playground I think of Mrs A's Butterfly challenge - this week she wants to see butterflies and stitching (real or faux) on a project... so that's why this card happened:

In the snippets box, I found a small card base, a snippet of designer paper which I cut to size, a tag embossed with cross stitching and a butterfly from Papillon Potpourri stamped in Melon Mambo. All I had to do was stamp the sentiment, colour and layer up the butterfly and add a candy dot. Now that was fun!

The sentiments from See Ya Later are gorgeous but quite specific... so, enter the humble marker! Using markers you can ink up just the bits you want and that makes the sentiments really versatile. The stitching was made with the Needlepoint Border embossing folders and I liked the way it underlined the sentiment.

I'll be linking this card up with Make My Monday too where the theme is Beautiful Butterflies.

Would you like to see how I organise my snippets?

This photo is looking down into a tall plastic box under my desk where I store offcuts of card stock. Every now and then I go through it and throw away anything too small or creased but it never seems to either grow or decrease!

Here's where I keep embellishments I've made or started to make but haven't used. It's a little plastic container that some fruit came in once and it fits exactly in a cubby on my desk. I keep off-cuts of designer paper in with the original packs unless they're very small, in which case they'll go in here or I'll be ruthless (gasp!) and throw them away.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Papillon Potpourri wood or cling,
See Ya Later (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Melon Mambo classic ink, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White, scrap of Melon Mambo
Punches: Scallop Tag Topper, Bitty Butterfly

Other: Needlepoint Border embossing folders, Big Shot, Epic Day designer Paper,  Subtles candy dots, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

If you're a regular reader of my blog you may remember that I bribed encouraged my son to give his room a major clear out with the promise of an executive chair which spins round. He set to work in a pretty impressive way and many, many full bin bags later he got his desire:

This is him looking sinister, stroking a toy dog unearthed from the back of the wardrobe, spinning slowly round in the chair saying: "Ah Mr Bond! So good of you to join me!"

See you tomorrow,

Who framed Petal Parade?

So the Sale-a-bration promotion is drawing to a close now and I still can't decide which of the free stamp sets is my favourite! I've certainly used Petal Parade a lot, in pastel colours mainly but when I saw the new Fusion challenge (scroll down to see) I wondered how it would look in greens and yellows. Come and see:

I've always liked a simple square card with a square focal panel and this frame, cut out with my square framelits, is a twist on that.

The flowers have been stamped in Gumball Green and then given a sunny centre by pressing an inked up sponge dauber into the centre of it. I added some dots with a Basic Black marker to add a bit more detail and then cut them out. The leaves are the useful branch from the 2 step bird punch.

This fabulous banner is from a set that I'm going to be using a lot more - Hello Lovely. It has loads of tile-like elements - perfect for men's cards - as well as lots of graphic elements like this sentiment.

I really like the Fusion  challenge, which always has a sketch and an inspiration picture and you can choose whether you use one or the other or both. Here are this week's:

I'm a 'both' kind of a girl - can you tell?!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Hello Lovely wood or cling, Petal Parade (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight classic ink, stazon black

Card stock: Whisper White smooth and core'dinations, Gumball Green

Other: Squares framelits, Big Shot, sponge daubers, 2 step bird punch, paper snips, Basic Black marker, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

When I say I'm a 'both' kind of girl, I'm practically Winnie the Pooh's twin... remember the bit where Rabbit asks if he'd like condensed milk or honey with his bread? Pooh's reply is: "Both - and never mind the bread!"

See you tomorrow,

Growing older

It's been the most glorious weekend in Buckingham and I was whisked off to make the most of it yesterday with a lovely pub lunch at The Narrow Boat at Weeden. It was lovely and warm in the garden by the canal and we enjoyed a browse round the antique shops afterwards too. I did manage to find a minute to join in with the challenge at The Male Room though - the colour challenge there this week is one of my favourite combinations, Blue, Green and Brown. Come and see:

I love Stampin' Up's Look Up to Father stamp with its beautiful wood cut style and the sentiment attached to it (A father is someone to look up to no matter how tall you've grown) which chokes me up just a little. You don't have to use that sentiment of course and the tree is perfect for any male.

I chose one of the sentiments from See Ya Later for my one layer card. By inking up my stamps with markers, I could leave off the elements I didn't want. People sometimes think you have to do this at lightning speed in case the ink dries but in reality you can go off and make a cup of tea, answer the phone, go on holiday for a week... When you come back to the stamp, you simply breath heavily all over the stamp and lo and behold it becomes inky again!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Look Up to Father wood mount, See Ya Later (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Gumball Green, Island Indigo markers

Card stock: Whisper White note cards & envelopes

Other:  stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

The antique shops of Weeden were certainly diverse. The shopkeeper in the first one we went into was sitting in front of a bank of screens linked to security cameras. This amused us until we noticed the prices... nothing much under four figures! We beat a hasty retreat and ended up in the Village Antique Market where the prices were more competitive! There we admired some of the furniture for a bit before buying a fab red handbag for £3.50 and a clock for £6 to replace the broken one in my youngest son's room!

See you tomorrow,

The masked framelit...

Just popping in with a quick card for this week's Less is More challenge which is Masking or Stencilling. I'm a huge fan of masking and there are all kinds of effects you can get with this technique, but I've opted for what is probably the simplest: cutting a shape with a punch or framelit and sponging ink into the negative space that's left. Come and see:

Stampin' Up's beautiful Deco Label framelits coordinate with the You're Lovely stamp set, just one of the products you can choose as a free gift with an order of £45 or more during Sale-a-bration. I cut a label that was a bit bigger than the stamp I wanted to use and sponged So Saffron ink into it. The stamp was coloured with markers before stamping over the top, and I stamped it again on a scrap of card stock so that I could cut out the daffs and pop them up over the top.

Here's a close up... aren't those daffs just gorgeous?! To finish the card, I added a touch of So Saffron marker at the sides of the sponged and stamped label shapes to add a bit of dimension, stapled a piece of stitched grosgrain ribbon to the top to make it look like a tag and added a sentiment from Peaceful Petals that fit the shape of the daffs beautifully - in fact I did the same with a sentiment from Sassy Salutations earlier this week so it looks as if those daffs are just the right shape for sentiments!

• Sale-a-bration ends 31st March so if you'd like to take advantage of the free gifts, do get in touch with me before then! Click here and turn to pages 10-15 to see all the fabulous gifts available.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: You're Lovely (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling, Peaceful Petals (for the sentiment) wood or cling

Ink: So Saffron classic ink, plus markers

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Whisper White

Other: Deco Labels framelits, Big Shot, stitched grosgrain ribbon in Whisper White, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

Talking of masking, who is this handsome, swashbuckling gent?! No, no, please don't shoot! It's okay, I'll let you watch the football!

Yes, it's Mr Crafting-Clare (taken a few years ago), all ready to hit an 80s themed fancy dress party as Adam Ant!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend. See you soon,

Oh Sassy Sal - You are Lovely!

I have been hopping about making excited hooting noises for a little while now because I've been asked to be a guest designer for this week's CAS(e) This Sketch! I am such a fan of this challenge where the sketches always get my mojo going and there's always so much inspiration from the amazing design team too. Here's the sketch along with a photo I took for colour ideas:



And here's the card I came up with:

I'm loving Stampin' Up's Hardwood background stamp! To get this effect, it was stamped in Baked Brown Sugar ink on Whisper White card stock and then rubbed over with a Pistachio Pudding ink pad. I stuck an oval over the banners and cut the aperture with a smaller oval before placing it on my card front.

The daffodils, from the free Sale-a-bration stamp set You Are Lovely, were stamped, coloured with markers, fussy cut and glued inside the frame. I liked the way the Sassy Salutations sentiment nestled perfectly in the shape it made. The card was finished with cord from the Accessories Pack - another free gift with the Sale-a-bration promotion!

• Find out how to get your free Sale-a-bration gift here. The promotion ends at the end of this month so don't miss out!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Sassy Salutations wood or cling, Hardwood wood or cling
You're Lovely (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding classic inks, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Garden Green

Other: Ovals framelits, Big Shot, Designer Paper Stack in Regals,  Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack  (free with Sale-a-bration), stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

My daughter (the one that cheekily calls me Crafting Clare!) finds Stampin' Up names fascinating and recently amused me by calling the sentiment stamp set I used today 'Sassy Sal'. Wisteria Wonder is now 'Hysteria Wonder' in our house, Pacific Point is 'Specific Point' and So Saffron has to be pronounced with heavy and sarcastic emphasis on the 'so'. If it's not funny enough on its own, she simply adds an 's' (Melons Mambo, Garden Greens etc). As if crafting isn't entertaining enough on its own!

See you tomorrow,