Last chance for these great Stampin' Up offers!

Okay Stampin' Up fans, today is the last day to:

• Join the Stampin' Up family for just £50 - this is too good a deal to pass up!

• Shop from the Stampin' Up 2014 Retired List - don't miss out on a bargain!

Offers end at 10pm this evening!

A BIT OF STAMPIN' UP INSPIRATION

So Very Grateful is one of my favourite stamp sets in the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue (click here to see lots more ideas for using it) and it won't be available after today, so do get it while you still can! On today's card, I've combined it with one of my favourite new things. Come and see:

I just couldn't keep my hands off those exciting blendabilities! The pretty corner image from the set was stamped to make a sort of frame around my sentiment and then coloured in. I love this clean air-brushed look and it's so simple!

You can use blendabilities to create lots of different looks - click here and here to see my other creations so far (and there will be many, many more as well as a tutorial.) I just can't get enough of these fabulous streak-free alcohol markers - and starting tomorrow you'll be able to get some too!

YES - the brand spanking new Stampin' Up annual catalogue 2014-2015 goes live tomorrow!!! And hold on to your ears because there'll be a give away here, with one lucky reader getting a FREE PACK OF BLENDABILITIES!!!

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

Stamps: So Very Grateful wood or cling, Four You wood or cling 

Ink: Mossy Meadow (NEW in-colour, available 1st July), Basic Grey
Blendabilities: Coastal Cabana, Old Olive assortments  (NEW, available 1st July)

Card stock: Whisper White

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.

I'm currently sending out new catalogues and there is a large Stampin' Up box in the middle of our living room. Yesterday my youngest son announced: "Sometimes I like to moonwalk!" Off he went backwards in a very impressive display of moonwalking until... CRASH! "This box  is a hazard Mummy," he said with dignity, picking himself up.

See you here tomorrow for my catalogue launch!

Hugs,

Gently Falling in the summer

My favourite stamps are leaves  - oh and flowers, trees, birds, butterflies, animals, splodges, graphic shapes, background stamps... Hmm, I think you get the idea with that! Back to the leaves though, Stampin' Up's retiring Gently Falling is a stamp set that has seen a lot of action in the Crafting Square Metre. Here it is again, taking another airing:

Gently Falling is a two step stamping set, meaning that you get an outline image and a coordinating filler image. I  stamped a border of outlined leaves in Garden Green and filled them with Pistachio Pudding for a cool summer feel.

You know those retro prints that have outlines with slightly offset coloured infills? Well that's the look I was going for here. I used a stamp-a-majig for accurate placement, so that it looks as if I didn't (if you know what I mean!)

The speckle images from Gorgeous Grunge are great for adding flecks of colour. I used the fabulous Crushed Curry for this - it's fast becoming my 'go to' yellow. The sentiment is from So Very Grateful (available until the end of June), stamped and heat embossed with clear embossing powder for a glossy finish.

• Click here for more inspiration using Gently Falling

I'll be linking today's card up with Less is More where the challenge is to use More Than One Stamp; The Male Room, where the theme is Trees and Leaves; and CAS(E) This Sketch where this gorgeous sketch is providing the inspiration this week:

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

Stamps: Gently Falling (retiring) wood or cling, Gorgeous Grunge wood or cling,
So Very Grateful wood or cling

Ink: Garden Green, Pistachio Pudding, Crushed Curry, Basic Black classic inks

Card stock: Very Vanilla

Other: Clear embossing powder, Heat 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.

Some of the items in the annual catalogue are retiring to make way for new products. Don't miss out on your favourites! Some of these items have been discounted too - check them here.

Yesterday I burnt myself while taking something out of the oven and my 'ow' noise brought my youngest son in to check that I was alright. Once I had reassured him that it was just a minor problem, he looked at me. "You sounded like R2D2," he said. "You shouldn't make those noises when you're hurt because it makes me think you're just doing R2D2 impressions."



See you tomorrow,

So Very Grateful you're back!

I've thoroughly enjoyed show-casing Stampin' Up's So Very Grateful stamp set this week - what a gorgeous stamp set it is! Here's another way of using it for a pretty vintage look:

Three clusters of flowers were stamped on the white panel and coloured with markers in different colours from the Subtles family. It reminds me of pretty chintz fabric or vintage china - what do you think?  I pierced a frame around the edge of the panel before attaching it to the Pool Party core'dinations card base.

The sentiment was computer-generated especially for the recipient, the lovely Sarn from Stampin' With Pleasure - I made the card to welcome her very warmly back to my team!

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

Stamps: So Very Grateful wood or cling

Ink: Smoky Slate classic ink, plus Subtles markers

Card stock: Whisper White smooth, Pool Party core'dinations

Other: Essentials piercing templates, tool and mat

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 PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

One day, when I become fabulously wealthy (through some mysterious mechanism!) I will live in an enormous house with display cabinets full of beautiful vintage china, like this...

... only the china will be beautiful floral patterns like this:

The house will have a large craft room too, a bit like this:

One half will be given over to all my wonderful stamping stash while the other half will be a sewing area. I will have learned to sew by then and will design all my own clothes which I'll make up using wonderful vintage fabrics...

THUD!!!

That was the sound of me coming back down to earth!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you next week,

Stampin' Chalk marker on pink technique

This week's challenge at Less is More is to use Three Colours or Three Shades of One Colour on a card, which gave me the perfect opportunity to try out an idea that's been in my head for a while: I wanted to use my Stampin' Chalk marker on some bright card stock. Come and see my pink, white and black card:

I used the flowers from Stampin' Up's So Very Grateful stamp set, stamping them in versamark directly onto the front of the gorgeous Melon Mambo card base and heat embossing them using white embossing powder.

The leaves were coloured with a Melon Mambo marker and the flowers with the Chalk Marker, giving them this delicate, lacy look.

To finish the card, I stamped a bold sentiment from Regarding Dahlias and curved the bottom corners of the card with a corner rounder.

• If you love heat embossing, do check out the latest Weekly Deals - there are some fabulous coloured embossing powders among the special offers!

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

Stamps: So Very Grateful wood or cling, Regarding Dahlias wood or cling

Ink: Basic Black, Melon Mambo marker from Brights selection

Card stock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Other: Versamark, White embossing powder, heat tool, Chalk Marker, corner rounder, 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 PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

When my daughter was at her boyfriend's house recently, his three year old sister sidled up and asked her if she'd like to see her new dress. The pretty pink dress was duly shown, followed by the rest of the little girl's entire wardrobe. My daughter said she was astonished by two things: first, that every one of the garments was pink, and second, that the little girl was an impressive clothes folder upper! "I was shamed by a three year old!" she said.

See you tomorrow,

So Very Grateful for a happy birthday

There's a fabulous new lot of Weekly Deals up for grabs today! Come and see:

Beautifully Baroque embossing folder £7.50 NOW £5.63
Wildflower Meadow embossing folder £7.50 NOW £5.63
Champagne glass glitter £3.25 NOW £2.44
Melon Mambo embossing powder £3.95 NOW £2.96
Pewter embossing powder £3.95 NOW £2.96
Wild Wasabi embossing powder £3.95 NOW £2.96
Heat tool (EU plug only) £25.95 NOW £19.46
The Man, The Myth board book template (digital download) £10.50 NOW £6.30

Click on any of the items to see them in my online shop - they're available at these prices until next Tuesday 13th May 2014.

And now for a little stamping! The beauty of a set like Stampin' Up's So Very Grateful is that it takes on a whole new look depending on the colours you use. It appeared on yesterday's card full of glowing sunshine colours but today it's showing a more delicate side! Come and see:

The flowers were stamped in Early Espresso ink and coloured with beautiful Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz markers. A Sahara Sand card base really brings out those soft colours.

This was a fun way to use the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set: I stamped the happy birthday sentiment in two different inks, cutting the middle of the Early Espresso one out and layering it over the Sahara Sand one. I'll definitely do this again.

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

Stamps: So Very Grateful wood or cling, Itty Bitty Banners wood or cling

Ink: Early Espresso, Sahara Sand classic inks, Subtles markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Sahara Sand

Other: Bitty Banners framelits, Big Shot, paper snips

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 ONE OF THESE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SETS WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

Yesterday, while chatting to my daughter, I mentioned the old fashioned idea of waking people up with a cup of tea in the morning. She stared at me in disbelief. "No-one's got time for that!" she said. I agreed that a cup of coffee was pretty much the only incentive for me to make it downstairs in the morning but she brushed this irrelevance aside. "If people want to wear rubbish clothes all day, they can go ahead and have their cup of tea in bed!" she said.

See you tomorrow,

So Very Grateful for the sunshine

I love the colour yellow - it's the colour of sunshine! To make today's cards I used Stampin' Up's So Very Grateful stamp set from the spring/summer catalogue to stamp a whole sheet of Naturals Ivory card stock with flowers and then coloured them in using yellow markers. This is a very therapeutic activity and you end up with pretty floral card stock!

I used mine to make this vintage-style card. The delicate scallop trim is one of the decorative blades you can use when you convert the Stampin' Trimmer into a rotary cutter with the rotary addition.

I loved the way the curvy banner from Itty Bitty Banners looked with the vintage-style flowers.

Here's a slightly different design made using the same goodies - the one sheet wonder technique is perfect for making a whole set of cards as a gift.

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

Stamps: So Very Grateful wood or cling, Itty Bitty Banners wood or cling

Ink: Basic Grey classic ink, plus markers

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla

Other: Bitty Banners framelits, Big Shot, Stampin' Trimmer rotary addition, Small Scallop rotary blade

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 ONE OF THESE FREE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SETS WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

We've been in beautiful Somerset over the weekend and enjoyed plenty of sunshine. On Sunday it was May 4th, or Star Wars day as my boys like to call it (as in may the fourth be with you!) How very apt then that we lunched in the ancient Ship Inn at Porlock and were seated in an area that had framed Star Wars posters on the wall!

I know, Star Wars posters and this beautiful building wouldn't appear to mix would they?! We had an excellent roast lunch there though and the staff were friendly and helpful, so we'll definitely go back.

See you tomorrow,

Arranging the Fun Flowers

If you've been wanting to take advantage of Stampin ' Up's latest low-priced weekly deals, there are two days left to do so! Here's a reminder of what's on offer:

• Stampin' Write Markers (new colour kit) £23.95 NOW £17.96 (Includes Bermuda Bay, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Wisteria Wonder)
• Christmas Ornament punch £14.25 NOW £10.69
• In colour Boutique Details £8.25 NOW £6.19 
• Modern Medley designer series paper £9.95 NOW £7.46
• I Am Me designer series paper £9.95 NOW £7.46
• Fun Flowers Bigz L Die £28.95 NOW £21.71
• Afternoon Daydream Kit (digital download) £6.95 NOW £4.17

If you'd like to order any of these items at the special price, just pop over to my online shop and click on the Weekly Deals promotion picture.

If you're a fan of those fabulous Bigz L dies, the Fun Flowers die is certainly a bargain! I've layered up some of the flowers from it on this card:

It makes a real statement doesn't it?! I used lush Elegant Eggplant card stock with a matching button and finished it with a contrasting bakers twine bow.

Leaves and flowers from Stampin' Up's Peaceful Petals stamp set make a pretty background. I coloured them with markers and sponged Soft Sky ink around them.

One of the great things about these Bigz L dies is that they're happy cutting all sorts of materials as well as card stock including felt, fabric, foam, magnetic sheets, leather, craft aluminium, cork... A lovely and extremely talented friend of mine made this stunning appliquéed tea cosy using the die:

And (on a much lesser scale!) here's a corsage that I put together using fabric that Stampin' Up used to carry.

What would you make with this die? Doesn't it make your imagination run riot?!

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

Stamps: Peaceful Petals wood or cling, So Very Grateful (for the sentiment) wood or cling

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Elegant Eggplant, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant

Other: Fun Flowers Bigz die, Big Shot, Regals designer buttons, Crushed Curry bakers twine from Tag a Bag accessories pack, 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.

Life is on another of its 'go fasts' here and I am as busy as a bee! Recently I helped my daughter have a massive wardrobe clear-out, taking a pile of outgrown or no longer wanted garments to the charity shops and throwing away damaged beyond repair ones. We also ended up with a pile of clothes that need adjusting and I thought it would be a great idea to teach my daughter how to do this. Neither of us have had the time yet though. " We are a busy as bees!" I said when we talked about it this weekend. "I know," said my daughter happily. "Running around pollinating all the plants and making honey!"

See you tomorrow,

Tickety boo!

I'm in love again and this time it's the So Very Grateful stamp set from Stampin' Up's spring/summer catalogue. I knew I loved it when I saw it in the catalogue but thought it might be a one trick pony. I couldn't have been more wrong! I made this card with it last week and today it makes its second of what will be many, many appearances (and then maybe some more after that!) Come and see:

I made a strip of three apertures using the Ticket punch (another item I can't live without!) and backed it with a layer of hand stamped 'designer paper'. The floral image was stamped in Basic Grey ink and coloured using an aquapainter and ink. I love how velvety the flowers look when the Pacific ink is layered.

I make lots of thank you cards and this fabulous sentiment from the So Very Grateful set is a very welcome addition to my repertoire! I embellished it with a fussy cut flower and leaves and added a single gem.

I'll be linking this card up with Dynamic Duos where the colour palette is Gumball Green plus one colour of your choice (mine is Pacific Point of course.) It also fits in with CAS Colours and Sketches where the sketch is one of my all time favourite layouts!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD

(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: So Very Grateful wood or cling
Ink: Basic Grey, Pacific Point, Gumball Green

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Ticket punch, aquapainter, 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.

You may have noticed that I'm now on Twitter as well as facebook and Youtube. My daughter was very encouraging when I told her I was going to sign up for Twitter. "I think it's a great idea," she said enthusiastically. "What will you tweet about?" I hesitated. "Well, you know, inspiration, photos, offers and news about Stampin' Up." She nodded. "Like: Crafting is rad as heck! Everybody buy stamps!" she suggested. "Or: Have you heard the news? STAMPS!!!" "Erm..." I said weakly but she was just getting into her stride. "How about simply: Crafting - am I right?!" 

See you tomorrow,

A round thank you

I'm not much of a practical joker so there'll be no April Fools nonsense on my blog today although, come to think of it, I think my mind has been playing tricks on me! When I saw the challenge at Less is More this week, to use circles on your card, I certainly wasn't planning on going down this route. Maybe I was abducted by aliens? I don't know what happened, but when I'd finished crafting I ended up with this:

It reminds me of a powder compact but in fact it's a simple easel card! I used my Circles framelits to cut a round card base, folded the front in half and attached another circle to the half to make a new card front. The fabulous punchy 'thank you' from Simply Celebrate was stamped in the centre of the card front and embossed with clear embossing powder before it dried.

While I had the framelits out, I went a bit circle-tastic and made some frames! These beautiful flowers from So Very Grateful were stamped and coloured with markers before I attached the frame to the card front...

 ... and these were stamped and left uncoloured on the inside of the card, where you'd write your message. I wanted a CAS way of keeping the card propped open so I poked two holes with my piercing tool and joined them up with a couple of cuts of my craft knife to make a small slot.

The card folds flat for posting of course but nonetheless, I was well outside my comfort zone with this! Where is Craftingclare and what have you done with her?! *Twilight Zone music plays eerily*

I'll also be linking this card up with Crafty Cardmakers and More where the theme is You've Been Framed, and House of Cards where I was inspired colour-wise by this gorgeous photo:

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

Stamps: So Very Grateful wood or cling, Simply Celebrate wood or cling

Ink: Pacific Point classic ink, plus Subtles markers

Card stock: Whisper White smooth, Pistachio Pudding core'dinations

Other: Circles framelits, Big Shot, clear embossing powder, heat 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.

I was probably put off practical jokes in primary school when one naughty boy daringly put a snowball on top of the door to fall off on our teacher when she came in. In fact when she opened the door the snowball stubbornly remained balanced on top of the door and there was an audible intake of breath from the class. When she closed the door, the snowball fell wetly onto her hand. She remained there, holding the door handle with the snowball on her hand for what seemed ages and when she turned to face us, she was rigid with anger. We were all punished for that boy's joke and although I can't remember the teacher's name or even her face, I have never forgotten the injustice. Could she really not share a joke with a group of small children? If not, could she not have used the situation as a chance to educate us sensibly about appropriate behaviour? What a poor role model she was!

See you tomorrow,