Mothers Day card using Something for Baby by Stampin' Up

While I was making yesterday's card I noticed that the duck in Embellished Events was a similar design to the one in Something for Baby, only smaller. Perfect for mum and babies I thought, and set to work on today's card! Come and see:

How adorable are these ducks?! I coloured them with markers before stamping them, so that they could have cute orange beaks, and cut them out with one of my oval framelits. The same framelit was used to cut a piece of card stock for the pond too, trimmed with the small scallop blade on my Rotary Addition.

I went a bit framelit-tastic on this card! The card base was embossed using the next size up of oval (I describe how to do that in this post) and the sentiment was stamped and cut out with one of the Bitty Banners framelits.

• Check out the rest of my Something for Baby creations here - what a very versatile set this is!
• You can see more Embellished Events inspiration here.

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

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Embellished Events wood or cling
Teeny Tiny Wishes wood or cling

Ink: Soft Sky, Tangelo Twist classic inks, plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Lost Lagoon

Other: Ovals and Bitty Banners framelits, Big Shot, 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.

After making this card I sat down at the computer. As I settled down to work, I asked my son to tidy his room. He usually makes a spirited attempt to get out of this task but on this occasion he was surprisingly quiet. When I turned round he was gone but I found this on the table:

Have a great weekend. I'll be back here on Monday - hope to see you then!

Baby toys on a Hardwood shelf

I haven't finished showing you cards made with Stampin' Up's fabulous new Something for Baby stamp set! Today's card is one of my favourite makes and I thought it would be fun for a tot's birthday. Come and see:

We had one of those stacking rings toys when my daughter was a baby. I decided to use it in a toy shelf scene so I coloured the rubber with markers, stamped it and cut it out (there are coordinating framelits to make this easy and you can buy the stamp and framelits in a bundle at 15% off!) I couldn't resist adding a friendly little face - after all, every child knows that toys come to life at night!

Some more toys were needed so I made a ball with the circle in Stampin' Up's Geometrical stamp set, shading the rubber with markers before stamping and cutting out. The pull-along duck comes from a hardworking stamp set called Embellished Events, a real all-rounder with images for every occasion and sentiments too. I added some bakers twine as the 'pull' for my duck toy.

The shelf was made by masking off a strip of the ever-useful Hardwood background stamp before stamping. I arranged the cut-out toys on the shelf and added a sentiment below it.

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

Stamps: Hardwood wood or cling, Something for Baby wood or cling,
Embellished Events wood or cling

Ink: Brights markers, Crumb Cake marker

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Baby's First framelits, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine, 1" circle punch (for the ball), paper snips, 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.

Don't you love it when small children encourage you to let your imagination go while playing with them, only to pull you up short. My daughter's boyfriend has a cute baby sister who loves playing house, cooking on an imaginary stove and pouring out invisible cups of tea. Her brother, entering into the spirit of this on one occasion, asked if she'd like some porridge. She nodded enthusiastically so he folded his hands into a bowl shape and offered her some. She looked at him critically. "That's not porridge," she said. "That's just hands!"

See you tomorrow.

Hearts and flowers and Something for Baby from Stampin' Up

I had so much fun making today's card! It's an unashamedly pretty and feminine baby card using sponging techniques and using some of my favourite Stampin' Up stamp sets. Come and see:

The background was made by holding a torn piece of scrap paper over the sky area and sponging Pistachio Pudding ink over the ground, and then holding the paper over the ground and using a mask to sponge in a cloudy sky with Soft Sky ink. TIP: Punch out different size circles and glue them together to make a cloud mask that you can use over and over again.

The floral branch from Hopeful Thoughts makes the prettiest frame for the pram and using markers directly on the rubber enables you to get a pretty multi-coloured image.

Once the frame was stamped I used a stamp-a-majig to position the pram. Stampin' Up has designed framelits to cut out the images from Something for Baby and you could cut the pram out and pop it up on the background if you wanted to. Better still, if you buy the stamp set and framelits together you get a cheeky 15% discount! Bargain!

I'll be linking this card up with ATCAS where the cue word is Sky.

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

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Something for Baby stamps and framelits bundle at 15% discount wood or cling, Hopeful Thoughts wood or cling, A Dozen Thoughts wood or cling

Ink: Pistachio Pudding, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate classic inks,
plus in-colour markers, smoky slate marker

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Basic pearls, 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.

My poor youngest son hit his front teeth while on a school trip at the weekend and broke one of the front ones, already weakened from an old injury, in half. Yesterday, I took him to our lovely dentist in Wendover to be put back together. While we were there, we walked past this sign.

I was immediately curious but my daughter, who had come along to keep us company, had already spotted that it was an aviation art gallery which is not her thing at all. "Come on," she said guiding me firmly past. "Some things were meant to be kept secret!"

See you tomorrow.

A card for a man - using Something for Baby by Stampin' Up!

A card for a man using a baby set? There's some mistake surely! But no - Stampin' Up's Something for Baby stamp set is so versatile, you can make a card for pretty much any occasion (except possibly Christmas!) Come and see my man card:

Don't ask me why there would be a tie in a baby set - perhaps the designer of Something for Baby was having a senior moment! I stamped my tie in Pacific Point ink and teamed it with a shirt made out of one of the papers in the new Moonlight designer paper stack.

I hung my shirt on the coat hanger that also comes with the set and hooked it over a strip of dotty paper that coordinates very nicely with the tie - Stampin' Up does coordination SO well!

For a bit of interest I added some contrasting stripes of washi tape, marker and card stock and used my stamp-a-majig to position the sentiment in the shape made by the shirt.

• Click here to see more ideas for using Something for Baby.

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

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

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Something for Baby stamp set and framelits bundle at 15% discount wood or cling, Four You wood or cling

Ink: Pacific Point, Smoky Slate classic inks, plus Daffodil Delight and Tangelo Twist markers

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Designer paper stack in Brights, Moonlight mini designer paper stack, Epic Day washi tape,  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.

Of course this card will only confuse the many male people who suppose the floor is the natural home of the shirt but I believe in leading by example!

Have a happy Monday and I'll see you tomorrow with something much prettier!

Celebrating a 1st birthday using Memorable Moments from Stampin' Up

I've been putting Stampin' Up's brilliant Something for Baby stamp set through its paces this week and one thing's for certain - I'm going to need longer than a week to show you what it can do! As well as some cute baby cards (here and here) and an anniversary or valentine (here), the set is perfect for celebrating those first few birthdays too. I teamed it with the indispensable Memorable Moments set for today's card - come and have a look:

This card focuses on the sentiment - after all, that first birthday is an important milestone! When I inked up the onesie from Something for Baby I stamped it off on scrap paper before making the final impression on my card front. This made a subtle background for the sentiment and the pierced frame pulls everything together. By the way, if you love the look of piercing as I do, you may like to have a look at the new Eclectic piercing template which coordinates with some of the Something for Baby images as well as stars, speech bubbles and lots more!

Memorable Moments is a set designed to commemorate a particular birthday or anniversary so I chose the words 'Happy' and 'Birthday' and added the '1st' from the set between them.

For extra interest, I stamped the number again, cut it out with my sharp paper snips and popped it up with a dimensional.

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

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Memorable Moments wood or cling

Ink: Soft Sky, Pacific Point, Tangelo Twist

Card stock: Whisper White, Soft Sky

Other: Essentials piercing template, mat and tool, paper snips, 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.

As someone who falls over on a fairly regular basis (!) I have a great deal of sympathy for British cyclist Chris Froome who fell off his bike on live TV and wish him all the best for the rest of the Tour de France. I'm not sure if he'd want good wishes from anyone in our family though - when I mentioned that the competition was starting in Yorkshire, my eldest son said: "Yorkshire? That's not the Tour de France then - that's just a bike ride!"

See you tomorrow,

A duckie anniversary using Something For Baby from Stampin' Up

Have you seen the cute duck in Stampin' Up's Something for Baby set? What a sweetie - perfect for babies of either gender. Today's card started out as a card for twins in fact but, as I positioned the ducks, it occurred to me that it could work as a valentine or anniversary card too! Come and see:

I coloured the duck stamp with markers (so my ducks could have cute orange beaks!) and stamped two of them. There are framelits that coordinate with the Something for Baby set so you can cut these out quickly and easily and, if you buy the framelits and stamp set in a bundle, you'll get a 15% discount!

I used my 2 1/2" circle punch to make a mask and sponged inside it to create the sky. The wavy paper is from the Moonlight Designer Paper stack and I thought it would make perfect water for the ducks to swim in. The card is finished with a tiny heart, cut with the Owl punch, and a sentiment from A Dozen Thoughts.

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

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Stamp set & framelits bundle wood or cling,
A Dozen Thoughts wood or cling

Ink: Soft Sky, Smoky Slate

Card stock: Whisper White
Punches: Owl punch, 2 1/2" circle punch

Other: Moonlight designer paper stack, Baby's First framelits, Big Shot, 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.

One of my favourite ways to unwind is playing the piano. I'm no concert pianist or anything but, being a bit of a drama queen, I love melancholy music. The other day I was absorbed in a funereal piece, charged with emotion, when I heard a strange sound. My youngest son had got hold of this:

and was quacking along to the music! My fault apparently for putting it in his Christmas stocking!

See you tomorrow.

Using Something for Baby by Stampin' Up - for a little boy

I love making baby cards and Stampin' Up's new Something for Baby stamp set is the best set ever for doing so! It has matching framelits too so that you don't have to cut complicated shapes by hand and you even get 15% off if you buy both together! Here's a cute card I made to welcome a little boy:

The canopy was made with dotty paper from the Subtles designer series paper stack. You can get every single Stampin' Up colour in these paper stacks and I can't tell you how useful it is to have tone-on-tone designs that match the colours in your projects! I trimmed the edge with the Scallop Edge border punch for a decorative finish and popped it up on my card base using dimensionals so I could suspend my baby socks from them.

How cute are these sockies?! It was lucky my teenage children weren't around while I was making this card because I felt the urge to pinch someone's cheeks! I made a hole in each sock with my handheld 1/16" punch and threaded bakers twine through, fastening it to the back of the canopy with tape. The bow is added to the front of the canopy separately. The socks aren't heavy enough to dangle so I pulled the twine taut and fixed the socks into position with dimensionals.

That's the Ticket is another great Stampin' Up set and this gorgeous sentiment is a favourite of mine for baby cards - because they are all 100% perfect and precious to us mums aren't they?! You can cut these tickets out with the coordinating Ticket punch and I stapled mine to the canopy.

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

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Stamp set & framelits bundle wood or cling
That's the Ticket wood or cling, A Dozen Thoughts wood or cling

Ink: Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Designer Series Paper stack in Subtles, Ticket punch, Scallop Edge border punch, bakers twine, 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.

Sports fans were treated to all sorts of excitement in England last weekend with the Tour de France starting in Yorkshire, an amazing Wimbledon men's final, and plenty of drama in the Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Silverstone race track is not far from us and the weekend starts with busy roads and a sky full of helicopters as people are flown in for the race. We always walk up to a local vantage point and watch the Red Arrows perform at the start of the race.

They never disappoint! It was even better this year though as we were standing near a man who had a radio tuned into the frequency of the Red Arrows leader and it was just brilliant to hear him - he was obviously really enjoying the performance and whenever he turned upside down or went into a spin he laughed like a plastic bag!

See you tomorrow.

Something for Baby from Stampin' Up - for a little girl

I mentioned last week that Stampin' Up's Something for Baby is my new number one favourite stamp set! I've been having a whale of a time with it so you'll be seeing lots of ideas here - and not just baby cards either! Today I do have a baby card to show you though - come and see:

I just love the little safety pin in this set! I used markers to colour the rubber before stamping, missing out a little part of the pin so that it looks as if it's been pinned onto the label. The two part sentiment from Petite Pairs seemed to fit round the pin perfectly.

The label was cut using one of the Deco Labels framelits and I used one of the papers from the Subtles Designer Paper Stacks as a background to set it off. The card is made using Pink Pirouette to welcome a baby girl but it could easily be swapped for Soft Sky for a little boy.

I'll just going to have time to link this card up with The Card Concept where their Oh Baby theme is about to close today; and I'll also enter the Make Your Mark challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More as I used markers to create the pin effect.

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

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling

Ink: Smoky Slate classic ink plus markers

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Deco Labels framelits, Big Shot, Simply Scored, Designer Paper Stack in subtles, 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.

We had such a lovely weekend helping my husband celebrate his birthday. On the Saturday (or should that be satyrday!) we visited the Hell Fire Caves at Wycombe (which, for one reason or another, we seem to have missed!) It was with some trepidation that we approached the caves...

... although this sign reassured us slightly. Homemade cakes and cream teas didn't sound too hellish! Things got much scarier on the pathway to the caves though when we encountered a pair of devlish-looking creatures:

What a pair of loons!

The story of the caves themselves was extraordinary and it occurred to me that those 18th century aristo chappies probably had rather too much money and time on their hands!

See you tomorrow.

Sneak peek! Something for Baby from the new Stampin' Up annual catalogue 2014-15

There's nothing more fun than making a baby card. No wait - making a baby card with a brand new stamp set from the upcoming annual Stampin' Up catalogue is even more fun! As a demonstrator, I get my hands on some of these items way before they go on general release and I love that! If you'd like that too, why not join Stampin' Up UK yourself? Until the end of June, you can join my team of Inkredibles for just £50 and get a starter kit containing £55 worth of goodies plus free catalogues and stationery AND free delivery too! Find out more by clicking here.

NEW BABY STAMPS FROM STAMPIN' UP

The stamp set I'm using today is in my opinion, the best baby set that Stampin' Up has ever come up with! Introducing...

... Something for Baby! It features the cutest pram, baby toys, little baby clothes as well as a whole load of extras! I've used the onesie here, decorated it with a little flower from the set, and hung it on the sweet hanger. I hooked my clothes hanger on a line made with floss from an old Stampin' Up kit, pulling it down slightly for a suggestion of weight. Let's take a closer look:

The print on the onesie was made by sticking strips of washi tape onto a piece of card stock, stamping the image on the back, and cutting it out with my sharp paper snips. I used my favourite Gingham Garden washi tape - it's retiring and you'll find it in the Retired List section of my online shop along with lots of other bargains!)

I adore the double sentiment from another sneak peek set called Something to Say. A little something cute...

...for your cute little someone! Squeeee! How cute is that?!

I'll be linking this card up with Make My Monday, where the challenge is Pretty in Pink, and I used Lori's fabulous sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

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

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

Stamps: Something for Baby (available 1st July) wood or cling, Something to Say (available 1st July) wood or cling, 

Ink: Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride

Card stock: Whisper White, Blushing Bride

Other: Gingham Garden washi tape (retiring), Basic pearls, 3/4" circle punch, corner rounder, Blushing Bride paper from Subtles DSP stack, SU floss (retired), paper snips, 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 Stampin' Up 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 availability by clicking on the banners below and click here to browse retiring products in my online shop.

The nearest thing to a baby in our house is the sister of my daughter's boyfriend - and at three years old, she's not a baby any more! My daughter was invited to an antique fair the family was attending and the little girl came to the door when they came to collect my daughter. "Hurry up Nina!" she told my daughter in an excited voice. " We're going to the ant fair!" Someone must have tried to explain that she'd missed off the 'ique' in antique because later on she was heard to say how much she'd enjoyed the 'eek fair'!

Thank you for dropping in to visit me today. Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you on Monday with more crafting fun.