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,

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, 

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,

Perfectly Preserved goes vintage

I was so pleased that my son's 'happy first day at school card' was picked as a favourite at CASual Fridays last week! This week's challenge is to use embossing and since Perfectly Preserved is my new go-to set, I reached for that. Come and see what I made:

The Perfectly Preserved set comes with flowers and gorgeous, stylised fruit to put in the jar but I've been thinking of all the other things you can put in it... hearts, leaves, stars, snowflakes, sweets etc So how about pens!  These are cut from one of the papers in the Attic Boutique range, sadly now retired, and I used another of the papers for the backdrop. I ran it through the Big Shot with the stripes embossing folder and gave it a sponge-over with Early Espresso ink.

The jar was stamped on acetate using white Stazon before cutting out (there are framelits to make this job easy!) and I cut a slot in the top of the jar with a craft knife to slide the pens into. The jar is attached to the card with glue dots cunningly concealed under the pens and the sentiment strip!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Summer Starfruit, Stazon white
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Other: Acetate, Early Espresso marker, Stripes embossing folder, Big Shot, Attic Boutique designer paper (retired), 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. 

I've just been talking to my eldest son about his English class. He'd been given An Inspector Calls and The Crucible to read over the holidays and it turns out that he'll be studying An Inspector Calls. He told me he was glad as he'd found The Crucible 'weird'. "I expect it made you think though," I suggested. He looked at me as if I'd run mad. "No!" he said indignantly. This the boy who once memorably said to me: "You're only saying that to make me think - but I'm not stupid!" And of course he's not. I expect he's just conserving energy.

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I've got a fast card using the new In-Colours to show you. Hope to see you then,

Three minute cards for a teenage boy

'Cards for a teenage boy' are words calculated to strike terror into many a card maker but I refuse to be daunted! Actually I didn't stamp a birthday card for my fourteen year old son this year as I wanted to draw something that he'd fall in love with immediately... you can see it at the end of this post! But at the end of his birthday he needed cards to thank everyone for all the lovely things they'd sent him, and this is the design I came up with:

These are very similar to last Thursday's three minute cards but much more manly! The cards are post card style, a sheet of A4 cut into four, with a double line scored across it and designer paper added to fit the space.

I absolutely adore these papers and had forgotten all about them! They're from the Well Worn range and are quite male-oriented. This one has a brick feel...

... while this one reminds me of a lovely tweedy dressing gown! I sponged round the edges of the designer paper to give a neat edge before stamping the sentiment from Thank You Kindly.

There's an underwater feel about this one...

... while this seems to be all about chicken wire and marble! Yes, I'm confused too but I know that someone somewhere is thinking 'YES! That's my man to a tee!'

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Thank You Kindly
Ink: Basic Black
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Well Worn designer paper, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. The set is also available to buy for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

My daughter told me the other day that she'd noticed how manly her brother was getting. "I know," I said, immediately off to Mumland. "Isn't he gorgeous?!" She looked slightly revolted. "Yes but you're his mum!" she pointed out. "Oh I expect other people think so too," I said. "Well," said my daughter, having the last word. "They obviously haven't seen him eating cereal!" Hmm, she does have a point but at the moment girls are not the focus of my son's attention - this is:

And I'm proud to say that this card is now being displayed on my son's notice board in his room!

I shall be back tomorrow with something very summery! Hope to see you then,

Three Minute thank you post cards

In the course of designing some thank you cards for my son to use, I came up with a very quick idea which I thought would be gorgeous for understated baby thank you cards. I'm using Reason to Smile - which, is only available for the month of August, so if you'd like to get your hands on this wonderfully versatile set do contact me soon! So, for Three Minute Thursday today, here they are:

Here's the recipe for this:

• Cut a piece of A4 Naturals Ivory card stock into four equal pieces
• Mask the bottom off each one and stamp the 'dot' from Reason to smile randomly over the top
• Add this sentiment from Thank You Kindly
• Finish with a scored line.

How simple is that?! It definitely took longer to type this than to make them but I think they're really effective. Heck, if you have a spare pico second, you could even round a corner! These would be a nice addition to a gift for someone who has just had a baby - thank you cards are always so useful. You could tie them up with a piece of seam binding or taffeta ribbon with a pretty tag.

Here's what you'll need to make this set.
Stamps: Reason to Smile (available August only), Thank You Kindly
Ink: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Simply Scored, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. The set is also available to buy for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

I mentioned to my daughter how much I've enjoyed 'going dotty' with this lovely stamp set. "Hmm," she said. "No change there then!" How rude!

See you tomorrow,

Butterflies on inky strips

My time is not my own at the moment so most of my cards are being made a week or two in advance. That means that I can't really join in with the weekly challenges as I would normally, but at Make My Monday the team are taking a break so we have a month to create something for the latest challenge - to make a card using yellow, bright green and fuchsia. I notice that the challenge at Addicted to Stamps is to use markers too so my card fits in there too. Come and have a look:

Inky backgrounds like this are such fun and quick and easy too: I took three markers (Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade and Melon Mambo) and scribbled in strips onto an acrylic block, spritzed it with water and stamped into onto my card stock.

I added butterflies die cut with my Beautiful Wings embosslits die, using colours to match the background.  Those useful markers came in handy again to colour some white bakers twine to match the butterflies. TIP: Laying the twine on the matching ink pad while colouring it with the marker gives better coverage, quicker.

I liked the idea of stamping the sentiment in Melon Mambo too - it looks as if everything is changing colour as your eye travels up.

What you'll need to make this card:
Stamps: Thank You Kindly
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo
Card stock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo
Other: Markers, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, white bakers twine, acrylic block E, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. The set is also available to buy for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

My daughter has a job at a hotel and she's often asked to waitress at weddings and other events. Yesterday, when I asked her how it had gone at the weekend, she told me it had all been fine but that she'd come to one table just as someone was finishing an anecdote and hadn't been able to get it out of her mind. This is what she heard: "... and that's when the lead singer fell face first onto the tennis court with jelly all over his face!" I think I'd have had to ask!

See you tomorrow,

Reason to Smile - a shapely card!

Today I'm using the daisy-style flower in the Reason to Smile set. I love the way it can be a different flower depending on how you colour it and today mine is dressed up as a sunflower! Come and see:

I'm not a huge fan of shaped cards as a rule, but I've found the Adorning Accents edgelits great for adding interesting shape with the minimum of fuss. The inside of the card is lined with the subtle text paper from the Patterns stack and my message can be written on the inside of the shaped section.

I stamped my flower head twice, cutting one out with my sharp paper snips and just the centre part of the other before stacking them up with dimensionals. The flower stalk is a strip of Always Artichoke card stock and the matching leaf was cut out using my 2 step bird punch. The sentiment, stamped along the line of the stalk, is from the Thank You Kindly set.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Reason to Smile (available during August only), Thank You Kindly

Ink:  Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Early Espresso

Card stock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke

Other: Patterns designer paper, 2 step bird punch, Adorning Accents edgelits, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. If you prefer, you can buy the set for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

Although I have lots of projects scheduled, I'm in and out at the moment so do please forgive my lack of commenting. Over dinner yesterday I was telling my family about a trip to London I'd be making. "I'll be staying overnight," I told them, "and I'll see you sometime the next day." My youngest son immediately wanted to know WHAT time next day. "I don't really know," I said. "It depends what happens!" He nodded. "Oh I see, you might get caught in traffic!" I smiled. "Well, since I'll be taking the train, I don't think so!" He suddenly became quite animated. "Well, there was that time in Thomas the Tank Engine," he said, "where one of the trains was naughty and got bricked up in a siding!" Oh dear, British Rail might not be entirely reliable but I hadn't thought of that!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you soon,

Reason to Smile - in three minutes!

It's Three Minute Thursday here today and I've reached for my Reason to Smile stamp set to make a quick card. Come and have a look:

Look what happens when you stamp the large flower outline image over and over, allowing the petals to overlap! I used a colour combination suggested by my Colour Coach - Baja Breeze, River Rock and Bravo Burgundy - who'd have thought?!

I finished the card with two lines drawn with a marker and a ruler, this gorgeous flourishing sentiment from Thank You Kindly and a trio of pearls. What a quick and easy card and I'm already thinking of other colour schemes to make it in!

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Reason to Smile (available during August only), Thank You Kindly

Ink:  Baja Breeze, River Rock, Bravo Burgundy

Card stock: Early Espresso, Whisper White

Other: Bravo Burgundy marker, Basic Pearls, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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. If you are placing an order of £60 or more, you will receive a free Reason to Smile stamp set in your choice of wood or clear mount. If you prefer, you can buy the set for £18.95 wood mount or £14.95 clear mount.

It's been a busy few days around here but my youngest son has found time to round up a gang of playmates in our neighbourhood. As I popped out of the back door yesterday, I heard him proudly showing off our cat. "I like your cat," said one of his new friends. "What's his name?"My son was quick to correct him: "It's not a he, it's a she," he said. "Oh," said the boy. "Nice name!" Aren't children wonderfully accepting?!

You may be forgiven for imagining I don't have any other stamps other than Reason to Smile... but I'll show you one more card tomorrow using the set and then I promise I'll move on! See you then!