A Perfectly Preserved marriage!

It's all about weddings at the fabulous Less is More challenge today - and we all love a wedding don't we?! I hope you won't groan when you see my card today... there might just be a jar on it!

I promise I DO have other stamps it's just that I haven't got over my Perfectly Preserved stamp set yet! Moving swiftly on - I started by getting some texture going on the background with a mixture of dry and heat embossing before adding a jar of hearts.

I love this jar to bits as you may have noticed! I stamped it on acetate with white stazon before cutting it out (there are coordinating framelit dies to make this easy.) The hearts are cut out of scraps of watercolour paper using my Owl punch (yes really!), and the jar is secured with glue dots behind the label and a little glue behind the outline of the jar.

It's hard to see in the photo but this sentiment and the little label on the jar are embossed in gold,  and I added a few pearls for that luxurious feel.

I was so pleased to see that my card for last week made it to the showcase - thank you for choosing it Chrissie and Mandi!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, En Français, For My Family and Tiny Tags (sentiments)
Ink: White stazon 
Card stock: Very Vanilla, scraps of watercolour paper
Punches: Owl builder punch, Jewellery Tag punch
Other: Versamark, gold and clear embossing powders, heat tool, Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, white bakers twine, Basic Pearls, stamp-a-majig

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. Click here to view the Retirement Lists - my last order from these will go in at 8pm tomorrow, please don't leave it too late! 

I meant to get my card posted much earlier but my daughter wanted me to go to a local car boot sale with her. It was a glorious day in Buckingham today and there were heaps of stalls to browse. We were looking at a stationery stall when our eyes landed on a herd of small plastic cows arranged amongst the envelopes and packing tape! "And suddenly," said my daughter. "There were cows!" She does make me laugh.

I shall be back on Monday and there'll be lots of excitement here because there'll be a brand new catalogue going live! Whoopee! There'll be heaps to show you so do come and join me for that.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Watercolor Winter woolliness

It's no good, it's freezing! There's only one thing to do this weather... make Christmas cards! Here's one I made using some of my new goodies from the autumn/winter catalogue:

If you like a bit of designer paper on your cards but don't want to invest in whole packs of 12 x 12", then the festival of Prints stack at only £6.25 might be just the thing for you. It contains 48 double-sided sheets of a much smaller size that's perfect for card making (11.4 x 16.5cm) and the designs include a trendy chevron, a gorgeous rustic check and some fabulous Christmassy damasks. I chose this subtle blue print with its suggestion of snow for my card.

I've wanted a stamp set with holly and other winter foliage for ages and the Watercolor Winter set is just right! It's a two step stamping set but this time I chose to stamp only the holly outline and coloured it in with markers for a different look. I used a marker to doodle some wool over one of my branches too...

... and attached these gorgeous mittens to it! They're from the Make a Mitten set which coordinates with the wonderful Nicely Knit wheel I used yesterday. I stamped them in Gumball Green over Marina Mist card stock, which makes a rather stylish mitten - wouldn't mind a pair of these myself! The sentiment is from For My Family - the perfect set for personalising cards to the family.

I'm a day late for Rudolph Day over at Sandra's blog but (panting) I ran all the way Miss!

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
Stamps: Watercolor Winter, Make a Mitten, For My Family
Ink: Gumball Green, Real Red, Early Espresso
Card stock: Whisper White, Marina Mist
Other: Simply Scored, stamp-a-majig, paper snips, markers

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount - Sunday 30th is the last day to order from Retirement Lists. 

My youngest son likes to wrap himself up in a blanket to watch TV whatever the weather. "Blankets are the best thing ever invented," he said the other day, tucking himself up with one. "Apart from the internet." He paused for a moment before adding: "And toilets!"

It's Three Minute Thursday tomorrow so I'll be back here with a fast card. See you then,

Knitted French Foliage

Can someone please tell me where autumn went? I was just waiting for the leaves to turn and winter snuck in! Well I'm not going under without a fight so I've made this one-layer card in an effort to bring autumn back into our lives:

One of the things I love about getting new stamps is the pleasure in combining them with old favourites. Here I've used the new Nicely Knit wheel from the autumn/winter catalogue to ink in a cosy background for my favourite French Foliage leaf set - it reminds me of a chilly autumn walk with scarf and gloves, kicking up the leaves with your boots!

I used one of the new in-colours, Summer Starfruit, for my knitted background. Doesn't it go well with the jewel colours of the leaves?! The sentiment is from Thank You Kindly which will retire at the end of the month.

The leaves were embossed before I wheeled in the background and I sponged ink over it to add definition, fading it out as I moved across the card.

When thinking about this card, I was inspired by CASual Fridays, where Fall Fun is the theme this week, One Layer Wednesday, where Heather wants to see a little sponging on our one-layer cards and Less is More, where we're combining three previous challenges. I chose week 41 One layer leaves, week 15 Embossing and week 28 Use ink. I'm wondering if Chrissie and Mandi will give me brownie points for keeping the card one layer but deep down I know I'm more likely to get a clip round the ear for being a smarty pants!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: French Foliage, Nicely Knit wheel, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, stamp-a-majig

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount.  

Right, time to go to the supermarket so that I can be ready for the return of the Ravening Hordes... brolly at the ready and... quick march!

See you tomorrow for more stamping fun,

Perfectly Preserved birthday

On Friday evening I went out with some of my girlfriends to celebrate a birthday. We haven't seen each other since before the summer holidays so it was lovely to catch up. I made a card of course:

I am totally obsessed with the Perfectly Preserved stamp set - I just love putting things in the jar! This time I've used the flower and stem in the set to make a little bouquet. Stampin' Up have thoughtfully provided framelit dies to make cutting out shapes in this set easy (and if you buy the stamp set and dies together you get 15% off - bargain!)

Do you like the little tag? It's from Mixed Medley, one of the gorgeous hostess sets in the new autumn/winter seasonal catalogue which contains no fewer than ten useful tags. I tied a little bakers twine to this one and popped it up on a dimensional at the neck of the jar.

I liked the simplicity of the jar containing the flowers but wanted something but wanted something a bit more, so I sponged around the jar with Baja Breeze ink and, using a post it note as a mask, sponged a ground for it to 'rest' on. The jar is highlighted with my white Watercolour Wonder crayon - I can't tell you how useful this is! - and I added a green die cut butterfly.

I had bought a pretty jug for my lovely friend, which I wrapped in pink tissue that coordinated with the Rich Razzleberry theme. The present fitted nicely in this plain kraft bag I had in my stash which I decorated with the flower from Perfectly Preserved. I added a simple tag stamped with the sentiment from Curly Cute and tied a piece of Rich Razzleberry grosgrain ribbon to the handles to finish.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Mixed Medley
Ink: Gumball Green, Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Baja Breeze, Wisteria Wonder
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory, Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade
Other: 3/4" circle punch, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Lucky Limeade bakers twine, Watercolour Wonder crayons

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

The weather has turned very autumnal here now, with rain and high winds. The boots are well and truly out now, along with the jumpers and cardies, and I even fished out a pair of gloves yesterday. In the evening we crumbled and turned the heating on while watching Downton Abbey. We've had to ban my husband as he keeps making pantomime noises, hissing at Thomas and talking over the Dowager Countess - shocking behaviour I'm sure you'll agree!

I'll be back tomorrow - maybe with something a bit woolly looking! See you then,

Have yourself a Merry Minis Christmas

Aaaargh! The only problem with making Christmas cards at this time of the year is that you get Christmas songs stuck in your head! Yes, I've been cracking on with my Christmas cards, inspired by Less is More where Mandi and Chrissie are asking us to combine three previous challenges (they're listed handily on the top bar of the blog); and CASology where the cue word this week is White. Come and have a look:

I 've chosen white on white (wk14), embossing (wk15) and Let it Snow (wk 45 for my Less is More themes and of course there's plenty of white going on here for CASology! The basis of the design is a predominantly white panel with lots of texture, mounted on a pristine white card base.

I started by masking off a horizantal strip with post it notes and heat embossing in white then layered on this stripy organza ribbon and some gorgeous Cherry Cobbler bakers twine.  It needed a bit more interest, so I added the line of piercing. The simple rounded sentiment was a perfect fit - it's from For My Family, a sentiment set for personalising cards for all the family - and teacher too!

Those fabulous trees are made with my new Merry Minis stamp set and coordinating punch. The trees were stamped, embossed or glittered and made into tiles by pasting onto a stack of glued-together punched trees. The bling is one of the Basic Rhinestones coloured with a permanent marker.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
Stamps: Merry Minis, For My Family
Ink: Real Red
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Merry Minis punch pack, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine (coming soon!), organza ribbon, Mat pack and piercer (retiring) Basic Rhinestones, versamark and white embossing powder, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, stamp-a-majig

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

Talking of getting songs stuck in your head, guess what we were singing when we visited this lovely location on our holidays? There was no stopping my daughter and I doing our best Vera Lynn impressions at the tops of our voices! "There'll be bluebirds over... the white cliffs of Dover..." I'm afraid the males of the family were terrified that someone might hear us and have us carted away, but we were there pretty early so there was no-one else there. And if you're wondering whether I was blown away, yes I was - but not literally!

My tummy tells me it's lunchtime and I can't understand why the Ravening Hordes haven't mentioned it yet... Enjoy the rest of the week and I'll see you on Monday,

Vintage Everybunny!

There's an overall vintage theme going during September at Make My Monday and this week's particular challenge is Vintage Childhood. Vintage isn't really my strong point - as you may have noticed! - but I had a go at this, inspired also by the bingo over at Addicted to Stamps. Come and have a look:

I thought I'd go with a scored card base, made using my diagonal Simply Scored board insert, and topped it with this rabbit from Everybunny on an inked and wheeled vintage-style background. The bunny normally wears a t-shirt, but, when you ink with markers, you can just leave out the bits you don't want - it makes your stamps so versatile!

Now my bunny looks like one of those old-fashioned soft toys - think The Velveteen Rabbit! I gave him a flag to hold - it's a strip of card stock topped with the streamer from Ain't Love Grand - and teamed him with lace and pearls to add to the vintage feel.

I chose the top line of the ATS bingo card, with scoring, yellow (hope the More Mustard ink counts!) and a birthday theme.

I've got to admit, this card is so far out of my comfort zone that I might need a map and compass to get back! I've really enjoyed the challenge though.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Everybunny, Create a Cupcake (sentiment), Very Vintage wheel, Ain't Love Grand (hostess, retiring)
Ink: Basic Grey, So Saffron, More Mustard, Crumb Cake
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Simply Scored plus diagonal board, Basic Pearls, Chantilly crochet trim (retiring), Basic Pearls, stamp-a-majig

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

It's been a busy week but now it's time to wind down for the weekend and welcome my husband back from his parents'. We've already heard that my father in law's operation was a success so let's hope he'll recover quickly and get a new lease of life. Thank you so much to everyone that left good wishes, it's much appreciated.

Enjoy the weekend and I'll be back very soon,

Three Minute autumnal thinking of you

My father-in-law went into hospital yesterday to have a pacemaker fitted and we're all thinking of him. I made this quick card for him just before my husband went off to be with his parents:

The background was stamped with the Confetti leaves stamp that I love so much, using the gorgeous autumn palette of Always Artichoke and Cajun Craze with an added zing of Lucky Limeade.

The sentiment comes from the wonderful Hopeful Thoughts set and says 'Thinking of you... please know that I care'. I inked up just the 'Thinking of you...' part of the sentiment with a Cajun Craze marker before stamping, then cut it out with the Decorative Label punch. The edges of the label were given a quick sponge with Early Espresso ink and then it was attached to the card with dimensionals.

I've pretty much mentioned everything I've used already so I won't type out a product list today! 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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

I must say, I'm not a fan of going to hospitals or doctors surgeries and it takes something quite major to send me off there. I do appreciate a good 'doctor' joke however... 
Patient: Doctor, doctor, I keep thinking I'm a dog!
Doctor: Dear me! Well, lie down on the couch and let's take a look at you.
Patient: Oh no, doctor, I'm not allowed up on the couch!

See you tomorrow!
Hugs,

Inspired by harvest festival

Yesterday I had a bit of a creative moment! I was fiddling about with my Perfectly Preserved stamp set and came up with a pot of jam and then, not content with that, I made an apple using a punch and some sponge daubers! Seeing the two together made me think of harvest festival and all the times my children trotted off to school carefully carrying their decorated produce. When I'd finished being in Mumland I found that I'd made this:

All sorts of harvest goodies in a wooden crate made using my new Woodgrain embossing folder on Core'dinations card stock and sanding the surface - LOVE this textured look! The jam was made by stamping parts of a strawberry from my Fruit and Flowers set onto card stock and then sponging colour over the top. I stamped my beloved jar from Perfectly Preserved over the top and added crystal effects, allowing it to dry before cutting out with my sharp paper snips. It does look quite realistic in real life!

Can you see how shiny it is? Those ears of wheat next to the jam are from the retiring Autumn Days - such a favourite set of mine! I hooked some of the Perfectly Preserved cherries over the crate to look as if they were spilling out.

The apple was made with a circle punch, sponge daubers and ink and has a stalk made from the cherries stem. I might do a tutorial on this because I quite like how realistic it looks and it was really quick and easy! I finished the card with a bit of rustic linen thread and a sentiment cut out with the modern label punch and fastened to the crate with brads - I love that I can just reach for brads that match the wheat!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Autumn Days (retiring), Apothecary Art (sentiment)
Ink: Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, More Mustard
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso Core'dinations
Other: Woodgrain embossing folder, sanding block, Big Shot, Modern Label punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, markers, Crystal Effects, brads, linen thread, paper snips

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

What is it about my family and food? My oldest son can't get enough cereal and meat (although thankfully not at the same time!) My daughter calls him 'My brother, the Sarlac' (referring to a creature on Star Wars that eats anything and everything and which appears as a hole in the desert with teeth and tentacles!) This is a little hypocritical though... the other day she suggested we had chocolates for pudding and I had to remind her we'd just HAD pudding! 

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I have a quick autumnal card to show you. Hope to see you then,

Hopeful Thoughts about autumn

The leaves haven't really started to turn here yet, but the nights are getting chillier so I know it won't be long for the autumn display. Out of the six useful Confetti background stamps, the leaves are my favourite and this is the perfect time of year to use it! Come and see my autumnal thank you:

I masked a rectangle off with post it notes before inking in a background with a variety of colours of ink. The leaves were stamped with the Confetti stamp in several colours and the tree from Hopeful Thoughts inked up with markers and stamped off the edge before the mask was removed.

This wonderful flowing sentiment won't be available after the end of this month, along with loads of other gorgeous stamp sets. (Check out the Retirement Lists here.) I scored around the inked rectangle using my Simply Scored board before mounting the panel onto a card base.

Here's a close up of the tree -  I love the effect of the leaves swirling about! It's Summer Starfruit, one of the new in-colours, that gives that lovely, jewel-like glow behind the tree. Stampin' Up inks blend beautifully when sponged - Lucky Limeade and Pumpkin Pie also feature in this background.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Hopeful Thoughts, Confetti, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Lucky Limeade, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Simply Scored, markers, stamp-a-majig

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

One of the things I love about being a demonstrator is that when my children need art supplies for homework, it's all here. My daughter swears by my aquapainters and card stock, my trimmer is in constant demand for all three children and my alphabet dies and stamps get a good work out too! My youngest son hasn't quite got the hang of the organisation required for senior school and yesterday morning (before school - aargh!) asked anxiously if I could help him cover one of his exercise books. Did this phase me? Of course not! It's what Well Worn was designed for (possibly!)

By the way, becoming a Stampin' Up demonstrator is easier than you might imagine. Click here to find out more. 

See you tomorrow, 

A Perfect Punch birthday

It's been another busy weekend here but I rustled up another card which, since it has an oval sentiment, will be appropriate for this week's fabulous Less is More challenge where Chrissie and Mandi are asking for ovals. Come and have a look:

Just to prove that inspiration can strike anywhere, this card was inspired by a pair of bright underpants belonging to one of my sons! The garment is soberly coloured but topped by a zingy striped, wide, elastic waistband and I thought the combination would make a great card. I used the gorgeous new Midnight Muse for the card base and three more of the new 2012-2014 in-colours for the stripes. Normally it takes me a while to get used to the in-colours but I've taken to this year's like a duck to water.

Here's a close up of that wonderful birthday sentiment from Perfect Punches. I coloured different elements of the image with my in-colour markers, stamped and punched - the easiest way to add a sentiment I know!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfect Punches
Ink: 2012-2014 in-colour markers
Card stock: Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White
Other: Extra large oval 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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

The highlight of my weekend was that Downton Abbey was back - yay! Watching a TV programme isn't really that easy in our house of course and, although my daughter and I made it clear to the rest of the family that we'd be watching, EVERYBODY managed to interrupt except my oldest son (who, ever the opportunist, took the chance to settle in for an xBox session!) When I said I must remember to thank him, my daughter suggested (sarcastically) that I make him a card... Hmmm, not sure whether 'Thank you for not interrupting me while I was watching Downton' cards would take off - or would they?!

See you tomorrow,

Framed Watercolour Winter

I love this week's Less is More challenge where Chrissie and Mandi have gone all oval! Come and see what I've made:

This is one of my favourite kinds of card - a bit of nature, lots of space, a bit of texture and a splash of colour. I've used the oval one of the Designer Frames embossing folder set. (TIP: If you use the Crease Pad instead of the top cutting pad in your Big Shot sandwich, you don't get any unsightly creases.) The image inside was made with my new Watercolour Winter set and cut out with my extra large Oval punch.

This set is wonderful! It's a two step stamping set (can you see how the outline of the pine cones has been stamped in the darker brown, then they've been 'coloured in' with a filler stamp in a lighter brown?) and it has all the Christmas plant life I need - pine needles and cones, holly with berries and a beautiful poinsettia too!

If you'd like a free seasonal catalogue and a brand new main catalogue and at least £25 worth of Stampin' Up freebies, you might think about joining my October Stampers 6 club. I'd love to have you on board! Click here to find out more.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Watercolour Winter, Teeeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Marina Mist, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Real Red
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Other: Designer Frames embossing folder, Big Shot, Crease Pad, extra large Oval punch, stamp-a-majig, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine (not yet available)

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

My son made a fruit salad at school yesterday. He informed me at bedtime the night before (naturally!) that he needed to bring in five types of fruit and some juice... I had an apple, some melon and some strawberries and, after scrambling around the kitchen, came up with a can of peaches and some frozen raspberries! His homework was to ask a couple of people to taste it and write what they'd thought of it. I wrote: "I like the way the raspberries combine with the peach juice and the crisp texture of the apple." My daughter was much more imaginative. She wrote: "It's like Christmas in my mouth!"

Thanks for dropping in today. Have a lovely weekend and I'll be back on Monday.
Hugs,

Happiest Birthday Wishes in the sky

Of all the styles of cards there are, clean and simple is my favourite - which is why I'm pleased to be joining in with CASology again this week. I love the way the challenges are just one word - this week's cue is 'Sky'. Come and see what I've made:

My sky has been sponged into a post it note mask made with my large square punch. Can you believe it's only just occurred to me that I can make a larger area by 'nibbling' with the punch! I used my 'hungry caterpiller' cloud template too - it's a line of circles, cut out with punches and glued together, and it makes great clouds when you sponge over them!

I topped my sky with the aeroplane from the hostess set Ain't Love Grand, popped up on dimensionals, and gave it a vapour trail with the curvy sentiment from another hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes.

If you'd love to be able to get your hands on hostess goodies but aren't able to have a party in your home, why not join my Stampers 6 Club? The club operates for a six month period and during one of the months you would be the virtual hostess and would be able to choose freebies of at least £25, including the exclusive hostess goodies if you'd like them. You get lots of other benefits too - not least of which are free catalogues during your membership! The next one starts next month when the new catalogue comes out and if you're quick, you can join in - click here to find out how.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Ain't Love Grand, Happiest Birthday Wishes (both retiring)
Ink: Marina Mist
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Markers, square punch, different sizes of circle punches for clouds, stamp-a-majig, paper snips
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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

Yesterday, my daughter came home from school blinking. "You look tired," I told her. "It's not that," she said. "It's just that the teacher in my last class has such a soothing voice it's hard not to drift off!" Oh dear, that doesn't bode well does it? Strong coffee anyone?!

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you very soon,

Perfectly Preserved in three minutes!

Aargh - autumn has suddenly happened! It seems only yesterday I was disporting myself on the beaches of Kent and now suddenly I'm in a jumper and scarf and am toying with the idea of getting my boots out!

One of the things I love about the autumn around here is that people with fruit trees in their gardens share their crop and you find houses with crates and boxes outside with notices instructing passers by to help themselves. Isn't that lovely? It's what has inspired today's card which I've made for One Layer Wednesday, where Cheryl has an autumn theme, and Addicted to Stamps where the challenge is to use markers. Come and have a look:

It's Three Minute Thursday here today so this is a very quick and simple one-layer card. I've used the Perfectly Preserved set in the new autumn/winter catalogue - and actually managed NOT to use the jar today (it was a close call though!) I stamped the gingham apples first, stamping off once on scrap paper before making my impression on the card base. TIP: Stampin' Up's grid paper is useful for quickly working out the centre of your card base when stamping a symmetrical group.  Using my stamp-a-majig to get the positioning right, I stamped the other stylised apples over the top.

Once the apples were in place, I added the leaves and sentiment and finished by doodling little bows on the apples and rounding the bottom corners of the card. I used some of this year's In-Colours for this card - I am LOVING these new colours!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Midnight Muse marker, corner rounder, stamp-a-majig

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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

Talking of quick and easy, I had the most delicious lunch yesterday, courtesy of the lovely Irene who sent very kindly me her recipe for cheese scones.

I'm a bit of a fiend for cheese scones and had wolfed down two before anyone else in the family got a look in! They managed to elbow me aside however and the scones were voted a huge success!

I'll be back tomorrow with something quite different! See you then,