Retiring Serene Snowflake

The big news today is that the Retirement lists have only been up three days and certain items have already sold out including some of the ink pads, textured card stock, neutrals ink spots and most of the punches, Fox and Friends clear mount and the gorgeous Medallion stamp. If there's anything you want from the lists, I really would advise you to place your order as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. View the Retiring Stamp list here and the Retiring Acessories list here.

Now, on to something creative: I've had Christmas on my mind just lately (I know it sounds mad but I like to start shopping for stocking fillers when I'm on holiday and have plenty of time to browse) so I popped over to the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown yesterday where there's a fabulous sketch this week. Here's what I came up with:

For the focal image I've used two retiring stamp sets, Dot Dot Dot and Serene Snowflakes. To make the distressed snowy background, I used my white Watercolour Wonder crayon to colour the rubber on the dotty stamp, spritzed it lightly with water and stamped onto a Midnight Muse card base. (Midnight Muse is another of the gorgeous new in-colours available now - see yesterday's post for Primrose Petals!) When it was dry I stamped the snowflake over the top in versamark and  embossed it in silver. The image was framed with a piece of the gorgeous Brushed Silver card stock with an aperture cut out of it with my large square punch.

Here's a close up of the frame - it's been decorated with pierced holes using the retiring Mat Pack and Piercing Tool. I strung a piece of Indigo bakers twine behind the frame and embellished with another embossed star cut out with a circle punch and some lovely, twinkly rhinestones. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and has been stamped in Midnight Muse. I wondered whether it might not work on the silver card stock but, after a quick once-over with my heat tool, it was fine!


On the right you can see Mynnette's lovely sketch that was the inspiration for this card.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Serene Snowflakes (retiring), Dot Dot Dot (retiring), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Midnight Muse (available now)
Card stock: Midnight Muse (new in-colour available now), Brushed Silver
Other: White Watercolour Wonder crayon, versamark, silver embossing powder, heat tool, Mat Pack (retiring), Paper Piercer (retiring), Basic Rhinestones, Square punch

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. The new in-colours are now available in card stock, ink, ink re-fills and markers; prices remain the same.

Being on holiday seems like a hundred years ago but my regular readers may wonder how I got on with my search for the perfect ice cream sundae. Well, the answer is very badly - the closest I got to a sundae of any description was a shop in Whitstable called Sundae Sundae. I rushed in full of excitement and asked the man for the sundae menu only to be greeted by a baffled expression. "You do sell ice cream sundaes don't you?" I said. "No," he said in a mildly surprised voice. "It's just," I went on doggedly, "that your shop IS called Sundae Sundae!" The man's face cleared. "So it is!" he said. "I suppose it is a bit strange!"

I'll be back tomorrow with something furry - if it works! See you then,

Crafting with glitter

I hate to say it, but I'm posting a festive card today...! I know, I know, but since I made this card for a challenge it seems I'm not the only one that likes to get things done in advance! At the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown the challenge is to use glitter and here's what I came up with:

I stamped a piece of Not Quite Navy card stock with glittery snowflakes and punched out squares of it to give this 'night sky through a window' effect. If you use Heat and Stick powder before glittering, the glitter won't rub off your project which is perfect for when it's the focal point of the card.

I added a bit of detail to the card: a piece of white bakers twine wound round the card a few times and finished with a bow, and some gems to add even more sparkle!

I've been scrapbooking this weekend and I liked the idea of giving this card a computer-generated scrapbook style sentiment. The card is about the feeling you get when it's coming up to Christmas and you look out of the window at night and it's begun to snow - I don't care how old I get, it just seems magical to me!

I WAS going to enter this card into Sandra's Rudolph Day challenge too but it's not eligible as she's set a challenge with a twist this month! Do pop over and see.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes

Ink: None! Not like me at all!

Card stock: Whisper White, Not Quite Navy

Other: Versamark, Heat and Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, heat tool, Basic Rhinestones, white bakers twine, large and small square punches

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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.

Glitter is fabulous for giving your cards a bit of sparkle but there's plenty of glitz and glamour going on in our house without it at the moment. It's my lovely daughter's prom party tonight and she's been pampering and primping and oh my goodness she looks so beautiful! She's wearing an elegant, ankle length, bronze silk dress with these gorgeous jewelled sandals. Aren't they amazing?!

It's Three Minute Thursday tomorrow and it's just as well because with all the excitement I've got nothing done at all! I've got an idea though so do come back and have a look (and there might even be pictures of my prom queen!)

Hugs,

Simply Soft Christmas?!

Regular readers of my blog will know how much I love the ColourQ challenges - there's something about those colour swatches and inspiration pictures that fires me up! I must admit it took a while to figure something out for this week's though...

... but I wouldn't be beaten! Here's my interpretation:

I went for an emboss/resist background using the wonderful script image from the French Foliage stamp set. Once it was embossed I sponged Coral Calypso and Bravo Burgundy inks over it. The plants are from the wonderful Simply Soft hostess set. (Hostess sets are exclusive sets, available to buy with orders of £150 or more, but members of my Stampers 6 group can also order them during their hostess month - there's only one place left for my group starting in May, so do let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to join.)

Do you like the sentiment? I was rather pleased with it! I cut a half circle out of my main panel with a 1 1/4" circle punch then, using a 1" punch and a spare scrap of card stock, cut another circle to nest inside the space. This one was given the emboss/resist treatment. The 'thanks' sentiment has been cut out with my sharp paper snips and popped up with dimensionals.

Simply Soft is a two step stamping set - you can stamp the plant image and then add the colour to the flowers by lining up a second image and stamping over the top of the first. It gives a lovely soft look but I wanted a more defined look for this image so I just coloured the flowers in with a Pumpkin Pie marker. I liked the bubbles in the inspiration picture, so I added the surprise pop of Pool Party using the splodge image from French Foliage.

While I had everything out, it occurred to me that this design would work for a Christmas card too! Come and have a look:

I used markers for this one: Bravo Burgundy to colour the just plant stems before stamping and adding Pumpkin Pie berries. The Pool Party splodges have been swapped for Pool Party snowflakes some of which have been decorated with rhinestones for a bit of festive bling.

The sentiment has been done in the same way as before but this time I've chosen an easy-to-cut-out image from Contempo Christmas. This card is for the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown challenge, where the challenge is to use snowflakes on a card, and also Rudolph Day, the lovely Sandra's Christmas challenge.

I would normally add a supply list here so that you can see what you'd need to recreate these cards but this has been a long post and I don't want to completely bore you (apologies if I already have!) So if you have any queries about what I've used, do let me know won't you and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. And if you'd like to place an order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. TODAY'S THE LAST DAY  for adding a free pack of designer paper if your order is £45 or more (offer limited to one pack per qualifying order - click here for details).

I'm off to one of Stampin' Up's fabulous regional training sessions tomorrow to learn heaps of new things and meet up with lots of other lovely demonstrators. I'll be back on Monday with a sneak peek of something brand new and gorgeous so don't miss that!

Have a wonderful weekend,

More snow with Serene Snowflakes!

In all the festive excitement it's easy to forget that not everyone is looking forward to a happy Christmas. My heart goes out to those who are ill at this time of year and particularly people who are facing the ends of their lives, and their families. There are hospices set up all over the country to care for these people and they're usually run as charities. The St Lukes Hospice in Sheffield is one and I'm a staunch advocate of the St Lukes Charity Card Challenge that has been set up to support it. A new theme is set each month,with prizes to be won, and entrants are invited to send their cards in if they wish (along with any others they may have spare) so that they can be sold to raise funds for the charity. It's great fun and is such a worthwhile cause so do join in if you can and tell everyone you know about it too!

Today's card is my second entry for this months theme 'Let it Snow'. Come and see:

The main panel is Naturals Ivory card stock which I've stamped with snowflakes and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I sponged the rest of the panel with my new favourite colour ink Pool Party and added those all-important rhinestones for festive sparkle!

I keep getting very excited about the pairing of Pool Party and Real Red! The sentiment has been made out of two different stamps with the use of my trusty stamp-a-majig as I know some people prefer 'Happy Christmas' to 'Merry Christmas'.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes, Contempo Christmas, French Foliage

Ink: Pool Party, Real Red

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Real Red, Very Vanilla

Other: Basic rhinestones, stamp-a-majig, versamark ink, white embossing powder, heat tool, 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Real Red

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. 

I'm a little worried that my eldest son has a slightly odd attitude to housework... On my way in to the house yesterday I noticed that the wreath of one of my neighbours was missing - the previous day there had been a particularly fine wreath on the door! This morning, as I filled my kettle at the kitchen sink, I saw through the window that the wreath was back and remarked on it to my children over breakfast. "Perhaps he'd taken it in to clean it," suggested my son, to my amusement. You could be forgiven for thinking that with this attitude my son's room must be gleaming with tidiness and cleanliness but, sadly, nothing could be further from the truth!

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well. Thank you for visiting me today and I'll hope to see you again tomorrow.

Hugs,

Less is More Serene Snowflakes

Hello! It's been SO hectic here but I've just snuck in a bit of crafting! The challenge at Less is More this week is a one-layer card on the theme of 'Let it Snow'. Hmmm... yesterday's card would've been perfect - isn't it funny how often that happens?! But while my Serene Snowflakes set was out on my desk though I thought I'd have another play with it and these cards are the result:

I made it snow on this card by clear embossing the splatter image from French Foliage and sponging over it with my gorgeous new Pool Party ink. This is such a fabulous pale greenish blue! Overstamping the splodges with snowflakes in Island Indigo gives a bit of depth to the image and I added a bit of sparkle with a few rhinestones.

The sentiment is stamped in Real Red ink which I think contrasts beautifully with Pool Party!

Here's a slightly different design which I prefer as there's a bit more white space. Sadly the light was going when I took the photo and no amount of photo editing will get rid of the pink tinge on the card stock!

You can see that I got quite carried away with this theme - here's another design! I didn't have much time to make them so it's testament to the quick and easy design!

Lastly, for those who were as curious as I was to see what yesterday's card would look like in Pool Party ink - here it is! This colour has shot straight to the top of my colour chart so you'll be seeing a lot of it going on here!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes, Contempo Christmas, French Foliage

Ink: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Real Red

Card stock: Naturals Ivory

Other: Basic rhinestones, stamp-a-majig, versamark ink, clear embossing powder, heat 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. 

Buckingham had its annual Christmas parade today and it was excellent! The sun shone, the frost glittered and everyone had a lovely time - although there were a few chilly looking mermaids and a rather blue-round-the-gills fairy on one float! My son, who had come up with the brilliant idea of wearing two pairs of thermals at once and incorporating a coat into his costume, sailed through the morning happily waving to his public! He'd also managed to get some hot chocolate from somewhere... that child will go far!

I hope you're all wrapped up warm and having a lovely weekend. I can't wait to see all the snowy creations at Less is More - I know there'll be loads of inspiration!

Hugs,