Of stars and stripes

What do Benedict Cumberbatch and Twiggy have in common with Handel and Charles Dickens? They are all supporters of 275 year old children's charity Coram! Stampin' Up has asked a number of celebrities to make cards which will be auctioned between 6th May and 16th May 2014 to raise money for the charity which helps some of the UK's most vulnerable children in many different ways. Find out more here and check out Mr Cumberbatch's and Twiggy's fabulous artwork as well as cards made by a host of other celebrities.

I didn't want to be left out of all this star-studded creativity and although I can't imagine any of my cards being auctioned for any princely sums, I thought I'd make my own tribute to a charity that touches my heart. Come and see:

If you go along to the Coram website, you'll notice that its colours are bright and positive orange and red so I  used those colours and some of the design elements on the site to make my card. While you're there you can read a bit about why Thomas Coram set up the charity back in 1739 and what it's trying to achieve in the present day.

This was a very quick card, suitable for my Three Minute Thursday slot today. I cut strips of card stock and glued them to a curved square base. That was topped with a fabulous graphic label from Hello Lovely which was stamped twice in Pumpkin Pie and Real Red, then snipped and spliced together for a two-tone effect.

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

Stamps: Hello Lovely wood or cling

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Real Red

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Other: Envelope board (for rounding corners), 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.

My daughter's boyfriend brought his three year old sister round to play yesterday and I was transported down memory lane. All our favourite stories were read aloud; a little house was built under the kitchen table and 'porridge' made in a saucepan and dished out onto our picnic plates; our cat was (much to her horror!) petted by eager but clumsy fingers; bubbles were blown and chased after in the garden; my boys' old wooden garage and road system was put together and played with; there was a special lunch out followed by a trip to the playground. I was thinking about all this as I typed up today's post - this is childhood as experienced by the lucky ones.

See you tomorrow,

So Very Grateful for mothers day

Are you a Last Minute Minnie? If you are you probably haven't made your Mother's Day card yet, but fear not! Three Minute Thursday is here with a quick but pretty little number to make your mum feel loved and appreciated - and that's what it's all about isn't it? Come and see:

The focus of this 9cm square card is the sentiment. If you don't yet have Delightful Dozen, I'd highly recommend it for its variety of beautifully designed sentiments that will cover all the high days and holidays in your calendar!

I fell in love with the So Very Grateful stamp set from the spring/summer catalogue the moment I saw it. Colouring isn't really my forté but a scribble of ink with an aquapainter is all these beautiful images need! Don't these pastel shades look wonderful against the Smoky Slate?

I didn't come up with this gorgeous colour palette by myself - it's the latest in a series of wonderful colour combinations at the ColourQ where I'll be linking up this card.

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, Delightful Dozen wood or cling

Ink: Smoky Slate, Pumpkin Pie, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral

Card stock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate

Other: Aquapainter, 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 SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

My own mother died when I was very tiny and I was constantly being told that it wasn't a problem because I couldn't possibly remember her. It was only when I had my own babies that I realised how ludicrously untrue that is. This may go a long way to explain why being a mother is such an important part of my life and oh my goodness, how blessed I am to have the three most wonderful children in the universe! (Well okay, perhaps that last bit is a bit of bias on my part!)

Tomorrow I'll be presenting my latest video - how to make a really useful bellyband box. Hope to see you then,

3 Minute Banner Blast - without a banner in sight!

I do love a one layer card and they're often quick and simple - just right for my Three Minute Thursday slot.  The Simplicity challenge (now a monthly challenge so I never have to miss it - yay!) provides plenty of inspiration for one layer cards and this month the theme is Just Add Water. Come and see what I made:

I've been playing about with spritzing acrylic blocks and for this card I just drew lines all over my block with a Pear Pizzazz marker, then spritzed, stamped...

... and ended up with a nice grassy background, the perfect home for a lively sentiment like this one from Sassy Salutations.

The grass was crying out for spring flowers so I stamped the little flower from the free Sale-a-bration set Banner Blast around the sentiment. I gave the flowers nice, bright yellow centres and emphasised each with a dot of Crystal Effects.

I notice CAS on Sunday is also looking for one layer cards this week, so I'll link up this card there as well.

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

Stamps: Sassy Salutations wood or cling,
Banner Blast (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Wisteria Wonder classic ink, stazon black,
plus Pear Pizzazz  and Daffodil Delight markers

Card stock: Whisper White note cards with envelopes

Other: Acrylic block H, Crystal Effects, 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 SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

My eldest son certainly is enjoying his new chair! Yesterday evening, as I was laying out our evening meal on the table, I called up the stairs for everyone to come and eat. Everyone arrived except my son. I called again: "Sweetheart, dinner's on the table!" but he still didn't turn up. I tried again in a slightly (!) sharper tone of voice: "Come on! Your food's getting cold - what on earth are you doing up there!" and was rewarded by him bounding down the stairs. "Sorry," he said. "I was just spinning in my chair!"

See you tomorrow,

The three minute retro mouse

I loved the retro 'line art on block colour' treatment on this card I showed you on Tuesday, so I carried on with the idea for my three minute card today. Come and have a look:

The block colour background was created by sponging Soft Sky ink into a mask made with a 1" circle punch (a sponge dauber is perfect for this as it gives a nice even finish.)  I added the mouse from Life in the Forest using a stamp-a-majig to make sure he was where I wanted him. By the way, here's what I think of that little mouse: SQUEEEEEE! Sorry about that - hope I didn't hurt your ears! Now, let's take a look at some other versions I rustled up:

Here's a Pistachio Pudding one. The rule here is to choose any colour that formica kitchens were made in back in the 50s, and it will work superbly for this retro look!

I was using the Express Yourself hostess set for the sentiments on these cards and I couldn't resist using 'love you' with an added heart embellishment (from the owl punch). I love you too Mr Mouse!

• Hostess sets are gorgeous, exclusive stamp sets that are usually only available with orders of £150 or more but my Stampers 6 club members are also able to order them as a perk of their membership. If you're interested in joining my club, click here for all the information. There'll be a new group starting in April and places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. I'd love you to join me!

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

Stamps: Life in the Forest wood or cling, Express Yourself (hostess) wood or cling

Ink: Soft Sky, Pistachio Pudding, Summer Starfruit classic inks, stazon black

Card stock: Whisper White, scrap of Real Red (for the heart)

Other: 1" circle punch, sponge daubers, owl punch (for the heart), 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 SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

Wouldn't it would be wonderful to have a dining set like this:

What a gorgeous splash of colour and those chairs look very comfortable! The only trouble is, I'd have to decorate the whole house to match and...

... aaaargh! Stop it! Please...

...no! It's Formica Hell!

All the day-glo formica will be swept away by tomorrow when I'll have a cute little Easter project to show you - including an easy-to-follow video tutorial. See you then,

The cutest bunny in the forest (probably!)

When Stampin' Up's Life in the Forest stamp set arrived at my house there was a major squea fest - the little animals are just so cute! I used the adorable bunny for my Three Minute Thursday card today (and there's even a video tutorial if you scroll down!) Come and see:

I made this as a birthday card for a tot at first (as in the video) but it would make a perfect Easter card too (as above) - and you can always add tiny punched flowers or eggs if the whim takes you. Have you spotted the leafy bushes using the Petal Parade Sale-a-bration stamp set? I knew that was going to come in mighty handy! And how about the candy dot cotton tail for the rabbit. How cute is that?!

The candy dot is metal so I'm going to link this up with Less is More's Metal challenge and also with Addicted to Stamps and More, where the lovely ladies are running a CAS challenge.

Here's my short video tutorial - do let me know what you think won't you.

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

Stamps: Life in the Forest wood or cling, Teeny Tiny Wishes (for the sentiment) wood or cling,
Petal Parade (free with Sale-a-bration) wood or cling

Ink: Early Espresso, Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Sky, Pistachio Pudding plus Blushing Bride marker

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: Neutrals candy dots, 2 1/2" circle punch, aqua painter, stamping sponges, 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 SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

Since Jamie Oliver's school lunches campaign seems to have faded into the dim and distant past, I'm a big believer in a large cooked breakfast to minimise my children's need to buy the rubbish that's available in the school canteen. Bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, tomato are all regulars on my menu as well as a handful of rocket to get some extra nutrition into my youngest! The other day I asked him if he'd like one egg or two. He was obviously in French mode: "One is an oeuf," he said.

See you tomorrow,

Three minutes of Peaceful Petals

If you've been wanting to know just how to use a stamp-a-majig to get your stamped images where you want them, you're in luck! I have a video tutorial here today! Scroll down to see that, but first, it's Three Minute Thursday here so it's time for a quick card or two. Come and see:

To make the first card I stamped the flower and leaf images along the side and top of the card, then coloured the small flowers and the leaves in with an aquapainter. This doesn't take any time if you just scribble the colour on! I sponged a little ink along the stamped edges of the panel for a bit of extra definition.

The sentiment was layered over the top of the stamping using my stamp-a-majig to make sure it was centred and straight. I chose Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral and Tangerine Tango for my colour palette and you wouldn't want to go any darker than that otherwise the sentiment won't show up.

While making this card I had a sudden idea so naturally I had to make another one!

I stamped another floral panel, exchanging the Calypso Coral ink with Rich Razzleberry for a bit more contrast. Instead of stamping the sentiment over the stamped images, I punched an oval out of the panel using my Extra Large Oval punch. This enabled me to stamp the sentiment inside the oval on the card base itself.

Once the panel was sponged with ink, I attached it to the card base using dimensionals and added a stamped and punched butterfly I found in my snippets tray - it was Rich Razzleberry too so it was obviously meant to be!

So, not only is this a snippetty card, ready to take along to the Snippets Playground this week, but it's covered in flowers and butterflies too (well okay, butterfly!) so it looks like another entry for Mrs A's Butterfly challenge!

I've made a video tutorial to guide you through using the stamp-a-majig. If you have any questions, do feel free to ask away!

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

Stamps: Peaceful Petals wood or cling, Sassy Salutations wood or cling, Papillon Potpourri wood or cling

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Tangerine Tango, Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry classic inks, stazon black

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Extra Large Oval Punch, Bitty Butterfly punch, Basic Black marker, 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 SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

I usually go to the cinema with my youngest son in the holidays and yesterday we went along to see The Lego Movie. We like to get there early to view the trailers and I particularly enjoyed the one where Harrison Ford comes on and invites you to think of a favourite movie you and your family watch over and over again. I exchanged glances with my son, remembering the countless times we've sat down together and watched the adventures of a galaxy far, far away, but before I could open my mouth to say 'Star Wars', my son smiled at me and said 'Tangled' instead! What a sweetheart he is!

See you tomorrow,

See Ya Later in three minutes

Are you ready for Valentine's Day tomorrow? Well, I know what you mean! But hopefully today's quick card for my Three Minute Thursday slot will help you out - and there's even a video for those that prefer to see a card actually being made! Come and have a look:

I used designer paper and one of the fabulous images from the See Ya Later stamp set that you can get free as part of Stampin' Up's Sale-a-bration promotion. There aren't too many frills on this card and I've been assured by my Quality Control department (my husband) that it's perfect for a man. But of course, now he's seen it, I can't give it to him can I?!

To get my multi-coloured image quickly, I inked the stamp up with Crumb Cake ink and then used a Real Red marker to go over the 'someone' before huffing on it and stamping. Adding the red over the Crumb Cake does darken the red very slightly but that just makes the punched heart really stand out!

Here's the video or, as my children like to call it, Crafting Clare - Da Movie!



This card is made with a bunch of snippets so I shall be linking up with the Snippets Playground. That's the second time this week - but the truth is I'm fascinated about the building of the ark which, under the instructions of a foreduck, will be used as an umbrella I understand... have I got that right?!

'This is a Man's World' is the theme over at Crafty Cardmakers, so I'll link up there too, and also at The Male Room where the challenge is Valentine.

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

Stamps: See Ya Later (free with Sale-a-bration)

Ink: Crumb Cake plus Real Red marker

Card stock: Whisper White plus scrap of Real Red

Other: Sweet Sorbet designer paper (free with Sale-a-bration), owl punch (for the little heart), 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 SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND

The sentiment on this card is such a lovely, romantic one isn't it? Perfect for Valentine's Day, anniversaries, engagements and weddings... unless, of course, you write: "But it's quite tricky to get an appointment with George Clooney" inside!

See you tomorrow,

Three Minutes with Happy Watercolour

If you look at Stampin' Up's Happy Watercolour set, you'll see the beautiful flowers, the fabulous background stamps and those sweet sentiments, but you may overlook one tiny stamp. Well, we can't have that can we?! Here's a quick, one layer card for my Three Minute Thursday slot using that little brush stroke image:

The brush stroke image was repeatedly stamped as a border across the card using three colours of ink quite close to each other in hue. This kind of stamping is ideal for a one layer card as the overlapping and stamping off of the ink gives quite a lot of dimension.

For a little extra interest, I pierced a double row of holes using the Essentials piercing template. The sentiment fit perfectly in the space between them and I used my stamp-a-majig to make sure it was where I wanted it.

The challenge at this month's One Layer Wednesday is Can You Repeat That? so I'll be linking this card up there.

I've made a video to show how quick and easy this card is:

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

Stamps: Happy Watercolour

Ink: Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo

Card stock: Naturals Ivory

Other: Essentials piercing templates, mat and piercing 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.

CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION GIFT WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND

Yesterday, my daughter offered to help me unpack a Stampin' Up delivery so I suggested she took items out of the box while I checked them off my list. She enjoyed looking at all the products and was particularly excited about the Tag Topper punches, especially when I explained what they were and what they could do. "They're brilliant aren't they?!" I said. "And they're going like hot cakes!" My daughter lost interest in the punches at this point. "Mmm - hot cakes!" she said.

See you tomorrow,

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,

3 minutes with a Sale-a-bration freebie from Stampin' Up!

Are you ready for another Sale-a-bration sneak peek?! It's Three Minute Thursday here today, so I've come up with a quick, one-layer number using the beautiful Petal Parade. Come and see:

This may be my favourite of the stamp sets... but it's a close call! I certainly love these stylised images and they're perfect for collage-style stamping as in this one layer card.

You can make these images look soft and feminine using pastels but I've gone for an edgier look here using a retro colour palette and a very modern font for the sentiment. It comes from a brilliant new set called Geometrical which you'll find in the new spring/summer catalogue out next Tuesday.

I think I've just got time to link this card up with One Layer Wednesday, where the challenge is to restock your stash with one layer cards.

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

Stamps: Petal Parade (Sale-a-bration freebie), Geometrical (available 28th Jan)

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Blushing Bride, Summer Starfruit classic inks plus stazon black

Card stock: Very Vanilla

Other: 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 often talk to myself while making cards. "Hmm," I muttered the other day. "I wonder what would be a darker version of Blushing Bride... "My daughter overheard this and joined in. "I should think it's full-on, embarrassed bride," she said helpfully, "walking down the aisle with her dressed tucked into her knickers!"

See you tomorrow,

A gallery of three minute love notes

You don't have to have heaps of spare time to make Valentines cards! I've been playing with Stampin' Up's fabulous Love you More set this week and it's perfect for quick cards. Come and see:

I love the current trend for arrows and this image makes a great Valentine for a man. I used markers to ink the stamp up, leaving the arrow heads off...

... and replaced them with little hearts punched out of Stampin' Up's Silver Foil card stock using the Owl punch. Suitably caveman-esque I thought!

Moving swiftly on to the next card I made using the globe image from the set. :

I inked the rubber with markers before stamping, using Smoky Slate to give a metallic look to the stand, and coloured the actual globe bit with Soft Sky, Pistachio Pudding and Pear Pizzaz.

The globe comes with a heart shape in Africa but I coloured it in so you can't see it. I decided to add a punched heart (which appears to be having a swim in the Atlantic!)

My final offering today was supposed to be a three minute card but didn't turn out that way because love the way the words are entwined on this sentiment and really wanted to make it a dual coloured image...

... and it turned out to be quite fiddly colouring in the rubber of the delicate parts of the 'y'. It worked well though - and this is the first time I've used the narrow end of my Stampin' Up marker on rubber! The sentiment fits beautifully in the Decorative Label punch but then I got carried away and stamped a couple of hearts from another image in the set, cut them out, topped them with a punched heart - enough now!

Here's what you'll need to make these cards

Stamps: Love You More

Ink: Markers in Early Espresso, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Pistachio Pudding, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky, Melon Mambo

Card stock: Very Vanilla plus scraps of Melon Mambo, Silver Foil card stock, Real Red core'dinations for embellishments
Punches: Owl punch and Decorative Label punch

Other: 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.

My daughter was attending an interview at Queen Mary's university yesterday so I went off to London with her. Things seemed to go well for her and afterwards we had a lovely time pottering about the kind of shops we rarely see in the depths of the country and eating out. I lived in London for the best part of twenty years so how on earth I managed to get on a bus going in the wrong direction and missing our train home I've no idea!

See you tomorrow,