Beautiful birthday butterflies

I've been going birthday-tastic just lately so you'll be seeing a crop of birthday projects over the next few weeks! This card, using Stampin' Up's Serene Silhouettes set, was inspired by the displays of beautiful spring flowers around at the moment - come and see:

I've used Marina Mist for the card base. The more turquoisey blues are stealing the limelight at the moment but Marina Mist is such a pretty blue and looks wonderful with Old Olive. I've added a pop of Crushed Curry in the form of the die cut butterflies too - at least I thought it was Crushed Curry until something weird happened...

Aaaargh! I can only apologise for this photo! These butterflies are yellow in real life but after a lot of frustrating research I've discovered that Google has introduced an auto-enhance feature that wrecks some photos and you can only turn it off if you switch to Google+.  (Perhaps I should go ahead with that... Have you made the switch? I'd be interested to hear about your experience.)

Here's a close up of the embossed frame detail. Framelits are great for embossing with and this scalloped one from the Squares collection gives the card an extra large postage stamp look!

I shall be linking this card up with The Card Concept where the theme is Butterflies, Mrs A's Butterfly challenge where yellow is required this week (my butterflies ARE yellow I promise Mrs A!), and Seize the Birthday where they're all about birthdays!

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

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes wood or cling, Simply Sketched wood or cling (hostess set)

Ink: Midnight Muse, Old Olive classic inks plus Marina Mist and Old Olive markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Marina Mist

Other: Squares framelits, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, 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.

I don't think I'm a complete slouch on the technology front but there's always an element of sighing and eye rolling if I ask my children for help. In retaliation, I behave like a decrepit old lady, asking them to ring me on the telephonic instrument or asking them whether they've downloaded the latest gramophone record onto their ipods.

See you tomorrow,

3 minute get well with trees

It's Three Minute Thursday here today so it's time to make a quick card. One of my 'go to' techniques for  fast cards is sponging - you can make an arty one layer card using stamps, ink and sponges in minutes! To make this card even quicker, I've used the pre-cut and folded notecards on p.162 of the annual catalogue; they're good, heavy card stock, perfect for one layer cards, and they come with envelopes too. Come and see what I made:

Living in the gentle countryside of north Buckinghamshire, I'm often inspired by the changing seasons. At the moment summer is giving way to autumn and it's prompted me to bring out my tree stamps. I started by stamping the row of trees from Lovely as a Tree  and roughly sponging in the sky and the foreground. Next came the Serene Silhouettes tree, stamped twice, in Gumball Green. I sponged more ink over the foreground and disguised the joins with markers before adding texture over the top using the top of the oak tree stamp.

The sentiment is from So Sorry. I love the high-impact font of the words 'So sorry' in this set and there's a choice of different phrases to add to it - including 'for the loss of your beloved pet' and 'this is late'.

It's been a getting everyone well kind of week here on Crafting Clare's Paper Moments and I'm not the only one! Less is More is challenging us to make one layer get well cards too so this can be my second entry there.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Serene Silhouettes, So Sorry
Ink: Old Olive, Soft Sky, Blushing Bride, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Gumball Green
Card stock: Pre-cut note cards
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.


My daughter, who has definitely been struck down by the lurgy, came downstairs yesterday morning looking heavy-eyed. "Bub," she said. "I dode think I can eat eddy breakfast this bording!" Whenever my children tell me they can't do something I immediately say: "Course you can Malcolm! Just stick this up your nose and you'll be fine!" because of the Vicks Sinex adverts of the 70s. I'm only joking I hasten to add, and wouldn't personally recommend that anyone sticks anything up their nose, but it does cheer the children up and that's the main thing!

Here's one of the old ads in case you fancy a trip down memory lane.



See you tomorrow,

Serene Silhouettes watercolour style - and great news!

Looking along my stamp shelves the other day, I decided that Serene Silhouettes is a stamp set that I haven't used enough. So when I saw the Less is More challenge this week - use a rubber stamp and optionally a watercolour technique - I thought it would be perfect.  Come and see:

I coloured the rubber of my stamp with markers, spritzed it with water, stamped it onto a panel of watercolour paper and matted the image onto Island Indigo card stock.

The sentiment has been taken from my Wetlands set and cut into a tiny banner shape. TIP: A square punch makes short work of this. I mounted it onto a torn piece of washi tape and added an ordinary staple for decoration.

I thought it would benefit from a little splattering of ink so I used my splatter image from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I find this stamp SO useful - much easier than the retired Color Spritzer or flicking from an aquapainter as you have much more control of where the ink goes!

And the great news? It's the return of my online shop - yay! Now you can order Stampin' Up products any time you like! And to say a big thank you for shopping online with me, there'll be a free gift and a handmade card for anyone placing an order via my online shop during the month of September. Happy shopping!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Wetlands, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink: Island Indigo and Gumball Green markers, So Saffron classic ink
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Watercolour paper, Island Indigo smooth card stock
Other: Gingham Garden washi tape, square punch

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.


This card reminded me of the long summer days but the nights are definitely drawing in now and although it remains warm and sunny I know it won't be long before it'll be jumper weather! Talking of jumpers, my daughter was telling me about her boyfriend's baby sister who, when asked whether she was a big girl or a little girl, replied firmly that she was a kangaroo!

See you tomorrow when I'll be showcasing a quick card for my regular Three Minute Thursday slot.

Hugs,

Serene Silhouettes on a coloured background

There are loads of things to show you from the Stampin' Up event last weekend but then I spotted some challenges on line and couldn't stop myself from joining in! Using a coloured card base is the order of the day at Less is More and there's the most gorgeous inspiration photo at Make My Monday so I put the two together to come up with this little number:

A Summer Starfruit card base (zing, zing, zing!) with a black image from Stampin' Up's Serene Silhouettes set stamped on a piece of designer paper and attached, bordered with piercing and finished with my favourite sentiment... Er okay, hands up everyone that's saying 'hang on a sec - it's one layer week at Less is More!' OH MAN! If I do this one more time, it's curtains for Crafting Clare! Let's start again shall we:

So, a Summer Starfruit card base, stamped in versamark with a gorgeous image from Serene Silhouettes...

... embossed with black embossing powder, bordered with piercing and finished with gems and my favourite sentiment from A Word For You! I also coloured the butterfly in with a Summer Starfruit

marker to make it stand out from the flowers. Do you know, I think Less is More one layer weeks can single-handedly take credit for my extra stash of cards!

Here's the gorgeous inspiration photo from Make My Monday... I think I'm going to have to make another one using the pink as it really does look gorgeous on this book!

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, A Word For You
Ink: Black stazon
Card stock: Summer Starfruit, Whisper White (to line the inside)
Other: Essentials paper-piercing pack and tool, versamark, Black embossing powder, heat tool, Summer Starfruit marker, Basic Rhinestones, corner rounder, 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.
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My daughter came home from school yesterday and was miaowed at in a loud, hollow voice by the cat. "Tuppence!" exclaimed my daughter. "Act your species! You're a cat not a trombone!" This is obviously one of a series as last week she said: "Tuppence - act your species! You're a cat not a squeaker toy!" That animal has a surprising repertoire of miaows! (And when I say animal I am, of course, referring to Tuppence not my lovely daughter!)

I'll be back tomorrow with more news from Telford. See you then!

Giving Horse Frontier a bit more exercise

If you're a regular reader of my blog you won't be surprised to hear that I forgot about the one layer element of the Less is More challenge on Saturday. No it isn't the first time (hangs head and shuffles about with feet) but I'm trying to make up for my banana-headedness with today's card. The challenge is to make a One Layer Card (yes, Vicky, ONE layer!) along the theme of Sports or Exercise. Come and have a look at my second try:

I've used my lovely horse from Horse Frontier again because riding is a sport (isn't it?!) and apparently it's excellent exercise for your derriere and thighs too! I stamped the horse into a mask made with my 2 1/2" circle punch and sponged a sky-ish background. I went a bit mask-tastic and made a mask for the horse too so that I could add a bit of hedge!

The horse was coloured with markers and a sentiment stamped over the image. Are you wondering if burglars have broken in and stolen all my other stamp sets?! I have got a bit carried away with these sets over the last few days haven't I - but I love the horse and the sentiment set too and so I've given myself free rein with them (oops, did you see what I did there?!)

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Horse Frontier, Serene Silhouettes, A Word For You
Ink: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: 2 1/2" circle punch, Early Espresso marker, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these 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, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

• There's only one place left for my Stampers 6 club starting in February. Do let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to join in - you'll get a free spring/summer catalogue, the opportunity to earn Sale-a-bration freebies as well as getting at least £25 of free items from the catalogue - all for placing an order of £25 or more for six months!

I went through my horsey phase when I was nine or ten but my daughter got the bug quite a bit earlier. She was only two years old when she heard the sound of horses hooves outside and rushed to the window to watch a rider pass by outside. Suddenly she burst into tears and since she was inconsolable for some time I began to worry that she'd hurt herself somehow. Eventually she calmed down and was able to tell me that she wished so very much that she had been on the horse! What a funny, passionate little noodle she was! We got her a little rocking horse shortly after this which she never looked at, but when she got a plastic toy stables play set for Christmas, she played with nothing else for ages!

See you tomorrow,

Snowy Serene Silhouettes baubles

It's great to see that the Snow challenge over at Addicted to CAS has proved so popular, with more than a hundred entries. I've got another snowy card to add today - come and see:

Serene Silhouettes is another one of those sets I couldn't wait to make Christmas cards with, despite it not being particularly festive looking. Here I inked the birds-on-a-branch image up with a Crumb Cake marker so that I could omit all but one of the birds. After stamping the image, I used circle punches to cut parts of the image out and the tiny ornament punch to turn them into baubles.

The circles were sponged with Pool Party ink and I used markers to add definition to the branches, colour in the bird as a robin and add some bright berries. After that, it took just a touch with my two-way glue pen and a bit of white embossing powder and suddenly there's been a snowfall!

Both baubles have been 'hung' with a line of piercing and the small bauble fits snugly in the shape that this gorgeous sentiment makes. I'm pretty sure that if you're in the US you'll be doubled up laughing at my use of the word 'bauble' - but we really do call them that here in Britain!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Delightful Dozen (sentiment)
Ink: Real Red, Pool Party classic inks, markers
Card stock: Naturals White, Whisper White
Punches: Merry Mini punch pack, 1 3/4" and 3/4" circles, corner rounder
Other: Essentials paper piercing pack and tool, white embossing powder, heat tool, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

It is that time of year I'm afraid, and the lurgy has struck. We shall soldier on though and, like Pollyanna, be glad that it's struck now rather than at Christmas! Thank you for visiting and for your continued support - I really do have the best readers!

Hugs,

EDITED TO ADD: Can you believe that I almost forgot about Rudolph Day? And it's the final one of the year too! I blame it on the lurgy!