Out of the cage

Oh how fantastic to be creating again! It was wonderful to have a complete rest but I really do miss it when I don't craft. I'm still trying to catch up with everything but the challenge over at Make My Monday really caught my eye. It's to make a card on the theme 'things with wings' using this beautiful inspiration photo.

Come and see what I've done with it:

I rather liked the white and pink against the dark background so the Always Artichoke card stock was my starting point along with the gorgeous birdcage from Nature Walk which I embossed in white. I stamped leaves (from the tree in Hopeful Thoughts) over the top to add a bit of detail to the background.

I needed a bird as my Thing With Wings and what better bird than the one from the hostess set Silhouette Sentiments! She's also embossed in white giving her a dove-like appearance. You can see in this photo how I added a little So Saffron ink to the top of the Artichoke card stock to tie in with the photo, and can you see the pearl embellishing the top of the cage? I used a medium one from the Basic Pearls sheet for that and some of the tiny ones to decorate the centres of my flowers.

I am a huge fan of this flower punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack - and here's another way to use it: snipping between the petals gives the flowers this delicate, dimensional look. I was also rather pleased with the subtle sort of lacy look at the bottom of the Artichoke panel - it's been sponged with Whisper White craft ink and then over-stamped with an image from Baroque Motifs.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Nature Walk, Hopeful Thoughts, Baroque Motifs, Silhouette Sentiments, Happy Moments (retired sentiment)

Ink: Always Artichoke, Basic Black, So Saffron, Whisper White craft ink, versamark ink

Card stock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Pink Pirouette, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose

Other: Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Basic Pearls, white embossing powder, heat tool, piercing tool, mat pack, white gel pen

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593 and I'll be happy to help.

Don't forget today's the last day to get your free gift with an order of £75!

What on earth has happened to the weather? I have been wearing boots and jumpers since I got back from Devon and yesterday the heating went on - although that probably had something to do with a certain young person leaving the door open!

Thanks for visiting me today. I'll be back tomorrow and would be very pleased if you'd join me again!

Clouds with Sail Away and Silhouette Sentiments

Do you remember this card? NOT satisfactory for the LiM challenge! I've not been able to stop thinking about it - aaargh, it's like a sickness! - so today I made a revised version just to prove to Lady and Diva LiM that I am a very dutiful little LiMette! (And a terrible creep!)

But I'm happier now that there's some white space going on and it's also occurred to me that it would make a good entry for this week's One Layer Wednesday - to make a one layer card with clouds!

I mean there's no denying there are clouds! But of course that would be cheating, because it's just a revised version of an earlier card, so naturally I had to make another one for OLW.

It took a while because I dropped my stamp-a-majig in the Early Espresso ink without noticing... but I got there in the end! I started by drawing a frame on my card front with a Crumb Cake marker, then created my cloudy effect with torn scrap paper, some ink and some sponges. The bird is stamped over the top in Early Espresso ink. I wanted it to have a sort of twilight effect, with the bird just settling down to roost.

I sponged the edges to define them but I also added a little shading with a grey watercolour pencil and I think it makes the image really dimensional - as if it was stuck on to the card, but I promise it's not! Just for contrast, here's a picture of the one I ruined by getting ink round the edge:

To rescue it, I DID cut this one out and stuck it onto a card base. And while I was at it, since I'd ruined the one layered-ness of it anyway, I stamped the bird again and popped it up over the first - just for fun! But there's not that much difference is there?

Supplies needed for the bird card:

Stamps: Silhouette Sentiments (hostess set)

Ink: Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, Melon Mambo

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Crumb Cake marker, grey watercolour pencil

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

Thank you for looking at my cards today, I really appreciate your visits and comments. Hope you have a great weekend and look forward to seeing you very soon.

Notably Ornate birthday frame

Good morning! It's a gorgeous sunny morning here in Buckingham and I've had a lovely time creating a card for the Less is More challenge while listening to a lively chess game going on between my husband and youngest son. Now that's entertainment!

Chrissie and Mandi have come up with another fabulous challenge this week - to make a one-layer card featuring a frame. I get so excited about these challenges and usually spend ages thinking about them but this week I knew exactly what to do. Come and see!

As you can see, I've taken the challenge very literally and used this gorgeous frame from the Notably Ornate set! I stamped the frame onto a piece of scrap paper and cut the centre away to make a mask - quite fiddly but, let's face it, once it's done you never have to do it again!

I used it to frame one of my favourite little sponged scenes. I have been wanting to do this with the frame for ages! Do you like those little birds? Guess where they come from...

...They're from the Sail Away single stamp and were so easy to add just where I wanted them using my stamp-a-majig!

This photo was taken in the sunlight to show how shiny the frame is! I looked at the frame long and hard, wondering whether to add bling and decided not to because I didn't want to detract from the scene.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a 10.5cm x 21cm piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
• 'Colour' the frame part of the stamp with a versamark pen. Stamp the image onto the card front and heat emboss with gold embossing powder. Colour the frame with a River rock marker.
• Holding the mask (as described above) over the image, sponge Bashful Blue and Pear Pizazz in the aperture and stamp a floral scene. I used Pocket Silhouettes leaves and this gorgeous flower from the Silhouette Sentiments hostess set, which I think looks fabulous in Pacific Point ink.
• Add some birds and a sentiment using a stamp-a-majig and it's done!

Supplies
Stamps: Notably Ornate, Pocket Silhouettes, Silhouette Sentiments (hostess set), Sail Away
Ink: Bashful Blue, Pear Pizazz, Basic Black
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Markers, gold embossing powder

Thankfully the chess match is over with my son, who is a bit of an expert, emerging the winner. I'm rather relieved it's over actually as I'm not sure if my ears could've taken much more of that! The professionals seem to play chess quite silently whereas this game was more like a football match!

I'm off to do my chores now but I'm looking forward to seeing what you've been up to later on this evening. Thanks for visiting me and have a lovely weekend,

Silhouette Sentiments thank you card

I've been rather intrigued by the sketch at the new Make It Monday challenge site and it's been on my mind for the last few days. I've just realised too that it's the last day to enter so, instead of the dotty project I promised you today, here's my interpretation of Jacqueline's sketch:

I've taken a few liberties with the placement of the sentiment and the group of three embellishments but otherwise I've been pretty faithful to the sketch. I used lots of separate elements to make this card. The front of the Very Vanilla card base is stamped half-way up with the leaf from Growing Green and the edge defined with one of the stitch stamps that I made from the In Stitches wheel (click here to see how!) I cut a topper out of Confetti Cream card stock with the decorative label punch. Let's zoom in and see that:

I think this flower, from the Silhouette Sentiments hostess set, is heart-stoppingly beautiful and I particularly like colouring it with Pacific Point ink. This is a level 1 set - which means that you can get it free with an order of £150. Now, that's easier than you might think: some ladies save their wish lists for a big spend; some gather orders from crafting friends or family; some host a party and gather orders that way; some join my Stampers 6 clubs and get their free set at the end of six months. Whichever way you choose, there are lots of sets to choose from and you get other free goodies too! Silhouette Sentiments remains one of my all-time favourites though.  But I digress!

This picture shows what I've known for some time, that I cannot stop using the sentiments from Plane and Simple! They are so perfect! Do you like my faux brads? I didn't want brads to show on the other side of the card front and it's easy to make these with the template in the mat pack: you just colour three of the circles in with a marker and add Crystal Effects.

Here's how I made this card:

• Cut a 19cm x 9.5cm piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
• Masking off the top of the card with some scrap paper, stamp a design on the bottom half with the leaf from Growing Green and Old Olive ink. Smudge the ink a little with an aqua painter.
• Take the mask away and stamp a double row of running stitch above the leaf design using Old Olive and Pacific Point inks.
• Stamp a sentiment in Not Quite Navy ink using a Stamp-a-majig to keep it straight.
• Use the mat pack to make faux brads, lined up with the beginning of the sentiment. Finish these with a small drop each of Crystal Effects.
• Cut a shape from Confetti Cream card stock using the decorative label punch.
• Stamp the label with the Growing Green leaf and Old Olive ink. Colour the flower image from Silhouette Sentiments with Old Olive and Pacific Point markers and stamp it on top of the leaf. Repeat this until you're satisfied with your design.
• Decorate the large flower centres with self-adhesive rhinestones and mount the label onto a 4.5cm x 6.5cm piece of Not Quite Navy card stock using dimensionals. Glue this topper to the card front.

Supplies
Stamps: Growing Green, Silhouette Sentiments, In Stitches wheel, Plane and Simple (sentiment)
Ink: Old Olive, Pacific Point, Not Quite Navy
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Confetti Cream, Not Quite Navy
Other: Crystal Effects, Basic rhinestones, decorative label punch, markers

If you live in Britain, did you enjoy watching the garden get a good watering on dear old bank holiday monday? It was pure comedy wasn't it?!! And talking of comedy, my daughter was telling me things that remind her of me yesterday - birds (yes well, I collect wooden birds), crafting (hmm, might do a LITTLE bit of that!), wellies (WELLIES?!!!) I felt I had to protest at that: "Wellies!" I said. "I've never worn wellies in my life!" (Of course that's a lie!) "You have too!" she cried. And then we looked at each other and collapsed. It probably isn't normal to snort with laughter over a tiny pun but perhaps the rain had got to us!

If you were celebrating bank holiday Monday yesterday I hope you had a fabulous day. And if you live somewhere bright and warm and lovely, I hope you really appreciate it!

Thank you so much for dropping in today. I'll be back with the dotty project tomorrow and I'll hope to see you then.

Silhouette Sentiments notecard

I love the beautiful blues in the Stampin' Up colour range and I've chosen two of my favourites, Baja Breeze and Pacific Point for the card I'm showing you today.

It showcases the stunning hostess stamp set Silhouette Sentiments. This set contains four sentiments and four delicate plant images, one with a sweet bird. The little flower I've used here works well stamped repeatedly over a sponged background and the pretty leaves on the Baja Breeze mount was actually created with the stamp with the bird on it!

I love the way the sentiments fit beautifully in these frames from the Hodge Podge hardware set. This hardware is a fabulous tin packed with metal accessories - assorted frames, brads and ribbon slides. I would usually recommend the set but I do so even more enthusiastically this month as it's on special offer - only £20.76 down from £25.95. 

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a 7cm square of Whisper White card stock.
• Using a post-it note, make a mask to fit the frame from the Hodge Podge kit. Stick the mask onto the card stock where you want your sentiment to be.
• Sponge the top half of the card stock with Marina Mist ink and the bottom half with Certainly Celery ink.
• Colour the flower stamp with Pacific Blue and Old Olive markers and stamp onto the sponged background. Repeat this until you've made a little garden on your card stock.
• Remove the mask and stamp a sentiment in the white space using a stamp-a-majig for accurate positioning.
• Cut a 9cm square of Baja Breeze card stock.
• Making sure the bird won't show when the floral panel is attached, stamp the bird-on-leaf image all over the edge of the card stock, using Baja Breeze ink. Glue the floral panel in place.
• Pierce holes in the card stock and attach the frame with brads.
• Cut a 10.5cm x 21cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base and glue the panel to the card front.

Supplies

Stamps: Silhouette Sentiments (hostess set)

Ink: Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Certainly Celery, Not Quite Navy (sentiment)

Card stock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze

Other: Hodge Podge hardware, markers

Hostess sets aren't available to buy but are available as a free gift. You can get your hands on this one by doing any of these things:

• Hosting a party where orders total £150 or more. 
• Ordering £150 of goodies
• Or by joining my Stampers 6 club.

In all of these cases you get at least £15 of free products of your choice from any of the current catalogues as well as the free stamp set! I know! Crazy but true! To find out more, do email me - I'm always happy to answer any of your questions.

Thanks for dropping by today. I very much appreciate your comments and emails and always love returning your visits where possible. 

See you tomorrow!