Snowy slopes Christmas card using Festival of Trees from Stampin' Up

Fancy a day on the slopes? A bit of sponging and Stampin' Up's Festival of Trees stamp set will certainly set the scene! Come and see:

This card was so easy to make using a torn piece of scrap paper as a mask and Lost Lagoon ink for sponging. I added the trees while the mask was in place using just the tip of the fir tree stamp for the trees furthest away and the full stamp for the nearest ones.

This label style sentiment is one of my favourite stamps! It has a coordinating punch which makes it very quick and easy for multiples and today I stapled it onto my sponged panel.

The inspiration for this long, thin card came from the envelope which I found while I was rooting about in the back of my stationery drawer!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Naturals Ivory A4 Card Stock £6.75	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	That's The Ticket Wood-Mount Stamp Set £20.95	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I had such a great day out in Manchester, where my daughter whisked me out on a tour of all her favourite cafes, shops and places of interest. She pointed out a venue where she and her boyfriend will be watching a band at the weekend. "The set is called Order from Chaos," she told me.. "A bit like my room before you turned up today!" she added - and I must confess I was ever so slightly surprised to find her room so beautifully neat and tidy!

Have a wonderful weekend won't you. I'll see you back here on Monday.

Christmas with Choose Happiness from Stampin' Up

When you see the new Stampin' Up autumn/winter catalogue in a few days time, I predict that you'll be bowled over - it's bursting with seasonal goodies including the most gorgeous Christmas sets ever! Today though, I'm going Christmassy with Choose Happiness - come and see:

This set is perfect for collage and layering. I made a background with the leaves, the wood pennant and a strip of washi, then added a sentiment ticket and a fussy-cut branch and bird.

Markers have turned my bird into a festive robin and I sprinkled pearls into the leaves for a mistletoe feel. Perhaps that robin bird is hovering about waiting for a charming someone to appear?!

I adore these ticket sentiments from That's the Ticket and this Christmas one is lovely. The set has a matching punch too so you can produce lots of them very quickly!

I'm going to link this card up with Rudolph Day over at Stamping with Pleasure where there's a fabulous Stampin' Up as the prize this month! And because Miss is strict and insists on two cards so that we'll have enough cards at Christmas, I have included this photo:

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

Choose Happiness Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Choose Happiness Wood-Mount Stamp Set	That's The Ticket Clear-Mount Stamp Set	That's The Ticket Wood-Mount Stamp Set
Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi Tape	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Paper Snips

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

My youngest son is a treasure who has made cleaning my stamps his own particular job. He's very good at putting the stamps away in the right boxes too but sometimes he can't quite put his finger on which set an image belongs in. "Where do these go?" he asked yesterday, holding out the leaf and a decorative border stamp I'd had out when making today's card. "Er... Choose Happiness," I said glancing at them. "Bless you!" he said politely, thinking I'd sneezed.

I've realised that I promised you something special today and while I hope you liked the Christmas cards, that isn't what I meant! So bear with me - that special card will be here tomorrow instead! Hope to see you then,

April baubles

It may seem crazy to make Christmas cards in April but a couple a month means I'll have quite a stash later in the year. And anyway, it's Rudolph Day over at Stamping for Pleasure and it's always fun to join in there! My card is made with the Christmas Ornament punch, one of this week's special offers - come and see:

Those branches at the top of the card are stamped with the fir tree from Stampin' Up's Lovely as a Tree - that set is such a favourite of mine!

I added the Christmas sentiment from That's the Ticket which punches out neatly with the coordinating punch. I love stapling these tickets onto projects or attaching them with safety pins.

The baubles were given a bit of texture with the Northern Flurry embossing folder before punching out with the Christmas Ornament punch and I snipped the top off each and replaced it with a silver version. They appear to be suspended from the branches with a line of piercing - made easy with one of the Essential piercing templates.

The Rudolph Day challenge requires two cards, so this photo is to show that I'm not cheating!

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

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree wood or cling, That's the Ticket wood or cling

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, scrap of Brushed Silver

Punches: Ticket punch, Christmas Ornament punch
Other: Basic rhinestones, Essentials piercing templates, mat and tool, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Big Shot

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.

Never mind April baubles, it's April showers we'll be looking out for this weekend, so have your rainbrellas at the ready ladies! Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Peaceful Petals in Purple

One of my new year's resolutions was to make sure I got plenty of floral stamps from the new catalogues this year! Last year I realised that nothing gets me going more than a flower stamp. Unless it's a bird image, or maybe a tree, or... anyway I digress! Peaceful Petals was one of my first choices from Stampin' Up's new seasonal catalogue and I've used it today to make a quick card for my Three Minute Thursday slot. Come and see:

The flower was stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink and coloured with markers and an aquapainter. I added a piece of matching card stock to the bottom of the panel and curved the corners with the corner rounder on my envelope board.

I stapled on a tag is from That's the Ticket - a set I'm obsessed with at the moment. I'm horrified at how patchy it looks though - I'm so used to the brilliant ink coverage from the new-style foam-filled ink pads but Elegant Eggplant is one of the few ink pads I haven't yet replaced. Looking at this, I'll be doing so as soon as possible!

EDITED TO ADD: I was SO not happy with this card and couldn't stop thinking about it! It felt unfinished to me and in the end I added a row of pearls:

Slightly better? By the way, in case you're worrying that I stuck each individual pearl on separately, the Stampin' Up pearls have some rows of pearls that are stuck together for this very purpose so it was very quick to add them!

I'll be linking this card up with CASology, where the cue word is Purple, and CASE this sketch where this is the fabulous sketch this week:

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Peaceful Petals, That's the Ticket

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder plus Pear Pizzazz marker

Card stock: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant

Other: Ticket punch, aquapainter, envelope board (for the corner rounder)

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT FOR EVERY £45 YOU SPEND!

Isn't it strange about our reactions to colour?! I didn't used to like the colour purple, although I've got over that now, and why are little girls obsessed with pink? My daughter was recently playing hide and seek with her boyfriend's two year old sister and when she asked: "What number shall we count up to?" the answer came firmly: "PINK!"

See you tomorrow,

Welcoming baby with Storybook Friends

The New Baby theme over at Less is More today was just the thing to get me out of winter mode! Out came the lovely fondant colours and my favourite new punch and this is what I came up with:

The tag on this card was cut out with one click of my gorgeous new Scalloped Tag Topper punch. (I'm teasing you a bit with this because it's not available to order yet, but it'll be available on 28th January when the new spring/summer catalogue comes out - and Sale-a-bration will start then too with all its fab freebies!)

The beautiful Pool Party cord tied at the top of the tag is from one of the freebies - a pack of embellishments. I embossed the bottom of the tag with 'kisses' using one of the Needlepoint embossing folders and added a frolicking lamb from the Storybook stamp set, coloured with my Stampin' Chalk marker and cut out with my sharp paper snips.

Of course I had to make a baby girl version too:

The Sale-a-bration accessories pack contains three different colours of cord, including Crisp Cantaloupe which I think is lovely for a baby card.

Doesn't this sentiment sum up what every mum feels when her baby is born? I think it's perfect! It's from That's The Ticket, which has seen quite a bit of use from me lately and has a coordinating punch so you can just stamp, punch and go.

UPDATE: I've also been reminded to also link this card up with the Addicted to CAS challenge where the cue word is New - thanks Kylie!

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Storybook Friends, That's The Ticket

Ink: Pool Party/Crisp Cantaloupe

Card stock: Whisper White smooth and core'dinations plus scrap of Pool Party/Crisp Cantaloupe for the punched heart
Punches: Owl punch (for the tiny heart), Ticket punch, Scalloped Tag Topper punch (coming soon!)

Other: Stampin' Chalk Marker, Pool Party/Crisp Cantaloupe cord (free Sale-a-bration gift), paper snips, Needlepoint embossing folder, Big Shot

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

There's nothing very springlike about Buckingham today - it's cold and damp and dark. I'm going to see the Hobbit later with my boys but first I'd better do a little cooking as my eldest son has just come downstairs saying: "I have to eat right now or I'll DIE!"

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you soon,

Lovely as a Tree - That's the Ticket!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... but it wouldn't be Christmas if I hadn't made at least one card using Lovely as a Tree! Come and have a look:

This card was made by cutting out a 2 1/2" circle and creating a snow scene with ink pads and the 'direct to card stock' technique ( I love doing this and it's so easy!) I stamped the fir tree image from Lovely as a Tree several times in the foreground and added snow to the branches using the Stampin' Chalk marker.

This beautiful label from That's the Ticket gives the snowy scene a bit of a twist. I stamped in it Cherry Cobbler ink, cut it out with the coordinating punch and attached it to the circle with a staple. A tiny bakers twine bow is the finishing touch.

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, That's the Ticket

Ink: Soft Sky, Crisp Cantaloupe, Summer Starfruit, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green

Card stock: Very Vanilla

Other: Stampin' Chalk marker, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine, 2 1/2" circle and Label punches

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Well you know, I think it's time to wind down here and take a break for the holidays. I'd love to say I'm all prepared but the reality is that there's lots to be done! Yesterday I finally got round to finishing writing my Christmas cards and when my husband came in from work he found me chopping up salad for dinner and muttering about which postage stamp to use. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Oh nothing," I said separating lettuce leaves. "Do you know how thick first class letters can be?" There was a pause. "Er, I'm not sure," said my husband. "It's not really the season for them is it?" I looked up in disbelief. "Don't be ridiculous," I said crossly. "It's Christmas! Everyone's sending cards!" There was another pause and then my husband asked: "What have cards got to do with lettuce?"

Have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are and I'll be back soon with some new and exciting projects!

Hugs,

Through the Christmas Morning Meadow window

Did you see this card I posted yesterday featuring a little bird looking out of a window? Well here's the Christmas version I promised you:

When I made yesterday's card, I stamped the image first then used the 1" square punch to cut squares out of the stamped image before arranging into a 'window'. Today's card is different: this time I made a window template using the punch then sponged and stamped the scene into it.

The trees are stamped with the fir tree from Stampin' Up's wonderful Lovely as a Tree stamp set. Every year I bring this gorgeous set out to make at least one new Christmas card design! Can you see the snow? I dotted it on using the new Stampin' Chalk Marker, a gorgeous opaque white permanent marker - love this!

Here's my little robin. I inked him up in a Baked Brown Sugar ink pad, added markings to the rubber with a Crumb Cake marker and his bright chest with Tangerine Tango ink applied with a sponge dauber. He's been cut out using my sharp paper snips. You may wonder what on earth he's doing indoors... well, it's his house of course!

I adore the tickets in the That's the Ticket stamp set. There's a handy coordinating punch and you can punch the tickets out and use them as sentiments or tags. This one has been cut out using the coordinating ticket punch, stuck onto the card front and a staple added for embellishment.

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree. That's the Ticket, Morning Meadow (hostess set)

Ink: Soft Sky, Garden Green, Gumball Green, Baked Brown Sugar, Tangerine Tango

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Crumb Cake marker, Stampin' Chalk marker, 1" square and Ticket punches, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I wish the That's the Ticket stamp set had been around when my youngest son was little - he'd have loved it. He used to make beautiful tickets for all sorts of concerts and plays and hand them out to us. Sometimes there would be a performance but often there would just be the ticket! Once there was a fabulous ticket promising a never-before-seen extravaganza featuring my son and his amazing saxaphone solos. It sounded fantastic but the show did not go on as my son has never played the saxaphone or indeed showed any inclination to do so!

It's three Minute Thursday here tomorrow, so I'll be back with a super-speedy card! See you then,