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,

Secret Garden - handkerchief-style!

I'm quite fascinated by hanky-type layouts at the moment and today's card came about when I saw the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches. It also fits challenges at ATSM (to make a clean and simple card), CAS on Sunday (to use black and white plus one other colour), and Dynamic Duos (a colour combo of Pear Pizzazz and black with the option of featuring a plant). I'm panting after that sentence so without further ado - come and see what I've made:

Black and green is quite a favourite combination of mine and I do feel that a black card base can give a simple layout a nice bit of drama. I particularly like a black silhouetted flower with green accents like this one from Stampin' Up's Secret Garden.

The flower was stamped onto the white panel and the handkerchief-style scoring added over the top using my Simply Scored tool. I stamped another flower, cut it out (there are framelits to make this easy!) and popped it up over the first. I used a marker to add colour to the flower centre with a marker before dotting it with my 2 way glue pen and heat embossing with clear embossing powder.

I could have used the leaves from the Secret Garden but I noticed the clock ticking urgently at this point and felt a quick click with a punch was the answer!

This is the fabulous sketch I was working from today:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Secret Garden, So Sorry
Ink: Black stazon, Pear Pizzazz marker
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz
Other: 2 step bird punch, Simply Scored, Secret Garden framelits, Big Shot, clear embossing powder, heat tool, 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.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

Whenever I offer pears to my family I always ask if they'd like 'a pair of pears'. I started mucking about with words to amuse myself and the children when they were small and I'm afraid I never stopped! (More examples are Sammy Sandwich, sublana (my eldest son's way of saying banana), nippy noodles and creme de la creme a la Edgar (meaning cream and taken from Disney's Aristocrats). We are a weird old lot but it makes me smile and I bet my children will do the same with their own children!

I shall be back tomorrow with another hanky-style creation. See you then!