Presents under the tree

Hello crafting pals!

It's cold and grey and damp in the heart of England today - perfect weather for Christmas cards making! Come and see:

This one is all about the gifts! The card was started by stamping one of the trees from Spruce Trees by Inkylicious. I used Shaded Spruce ink appropriately enough! The tree was trimmed by making dots with a Cherry Cobbler marker and adding detail with a white gel pen.

Next came a strip of Crumb Cake card stock to make my floor. And then I wanted to pile up some presents onto that. I remembered a very old wooden Stampin' Up set I used to have called Wishing You, disappeared into the back of the cupboard to retrieve it, and yes...

... this is the stamp I was looking for! I inked it up using markers and stamped it several times in different colours, cut each present out and made a nice pile of them under the tree.

Finally, I finished with this charming sentiment. I'd forgotten that was part of the set!

The thing that sparked this card was the always-inspiring Christmas Kickstart Challenge, where the challenge this month is It's A Gift. I'll be linking up there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It was Eva's birthday yesterday and she is officially 5 years old. I can't believe how time has flown by, I honestly can't. We kept the celebrations low key but she did have an extra long walk with her favourite elements (the opportunity to get completely filthy and a river to rinse off in!) and she had some mackerel (which she loves) for her tea and of course plenty of cuddles! Happy birthday my lovely girl :)

Lovely to see you hear today! I'll be back soon with more craftiness ;)

Hugs,

Having a Festive Flurry with the new Stampin' Up blendabilities

Did you see my sneak peek yesterday of the new Stampin' Up blendibilities? I'm obsessed now of course so if anything around here stays still for long enough it's getting coloured in with alcohol markers! My children and the cat are too fast for me (!) so I found a stamped image to colour instead - come and see:

Blendabilities are not just for complicated images! It only takes a few minutes to blend the colours on this large snowflake from Stampin' Up's Festive Flurry set (available only until Monday! Edited to add: Stampin' Up has just announced it will be extending availability until 27th August.) and it gives it a nice shimmery effect.

I added a bit more shine with one of the reduced large gems from the Retirement List.

I'll be linking this card up with Merry Monday, where the theme is Sparkle Shimmer or Shine, and Rudolph Day where, as usual, the idea is to make two Christmas cards for your stash - like this:

• Click here to see more inspiration using Festive Flurry

• Click here to see a PDF file of all the Christmas items available from Stampin' Up until 27th August. To buy them from my online shop, click here and key the product code into the 'search the store' box.

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

Stamps: Festive Flurry wood or cling, Wishing You (retired)

Ink: Lost Lagoon classic ink (new in-colour, available 1st July 2014)
Bermuda Bay, Real Red from the Brights pack of Stampin' Write markers
Coastal Cabana assortment Blendibilities (new, available 1st July 2014)

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Large rhinestones, Stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order any time, day or night,

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

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

Some of the items in the annual Stampin' Up catalogue are retiring to make way for new products. Don't miss out on your favourites! Some of these items have been discounted too - check the lists by clicking on the banners below:

There aren't many snowflakes to be seen in balmy Buckingham at the moment but that's bound to change in the next couple of days. How do I know? Well the Glastonbury Festival is on and mud is traditional! My daughter and her friends have set off for the festival, armed with (or should that be legged with?!) wellies and raincoats. A hot bath and a mug of cocoa will be waiting on her return!

 See you tomorrow.

Three minutes with some designer paper

The Stampin' Up annual convention starts today and I'm trying to contain my excitement... a spot of crafting is required to calm me down I think! Less is More has a great challenge this week to use designer paper in a CAS way - so here's my quick take on that:

I seem to making a lot of stylised Christmas trees this year! This one was punched out of Epic Day designer paper with the Pennant punch, the trunk added with an Early Espresso marker using a ruler and a little pot punched out of Real Red core'dinations card stock using the Christmas Ornament punch.  I decorated the tree with a single gem.

The sentiment from Wishing You is quite possibly my favourite sentiment of the season.

I used markers to ink the rubber in order to get the multi-coloured image. I mounted the tree panel onto a background of the same designer paper as I used for the tree - the pattern is small so the design remains CAS. My envelope board was out on my desk so I used it to round the top corners of my card - and if you don't yet have one of these boards they're FAB so I highly recommend putting it at the top of your Christmas list!

• By the way, as well as Stampin' Up shopping vouchers, stylishly presented in a handmade wallet, I offer a Wish List service for Christmas. This is where you give me a list of the Stampin' Up goodies you'd like for Christmas and give your loved ones my contact details; then, when they get in touch with me, I can advise them of the perfect gift for you!

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

Stamps: Wishing You

Ink: Early Espresso and Real Red markers

Card stock: Whisper White, scrap of Real Red core'dinations

Other: Epic Day designer paper, Basic Rhinestones, Pennant and Christmas Ornament punches, stamp-a-majig, Envelope board

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.

By the time you're reading this I could be having coffee with my lovely Inkredibles team members, swapping cards and gifts with friends old and new, attending a special reception for demonstrators who have promoted to Silver 2 or more (oh yes, I'm that posh these days!), receiving free Stampin' Up goodies, being inspired by beautiful displays, raising a glass with members of the extended Pinkies team or relaxing in the luxurious surroundings of the Midland Hotel! Can you FEEL the excitement?!!!

I have a post scheduled for tomorrow though so don't forget to come back and join me and I'll be sending regular updates and photos to my facebook page so do pop over there too!

Wishing you a sassy 18th Birthday

Well it's all over! My daughter's 18th birthday has been celebrated with laughter and tears (only a few I promise!), feasting and champagne, special gifts and cards. I made her a card which started off in my head as dramatic black and gold and involving photographs, so how this comedy card happened is anyone's guess! Come and see:

The fact is, I can never resist making my daughter laugh! It started when she was a baby: She was in her little rocking chair thing on the floor while I was changing the sheets on our bed and when I swooshed the sheet over the bed a noise happened. It took me a moment or two to realise that it was the sound of my baby daughter giggling and that it was the best noise in the world! I must have swooshed that sheet five or six hundred times to hear the wonderful sound over and over again (and we probably needed a nap after that!)

I added bunting to the card because, oddly, it was one of her first words.  I knew the 'you' in the sentiment and the words in the speech bubble would tickle her funny bone...

... and the piles of presents from the Wishing You stamp set were so that I could write 'much presents, many bunting!' to make her laugh too!

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

Stamps: Wishing You, Sassy Salutations, Timeless Talk, Storybook Friends

Ink: Smoky Slate classic ink plus Brights markers

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Gingham Garden and Season of Style washi tape, 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.

We do like to do a bit of feasting on special days in our family and on this occasion we celebrated at the beautiful Orchid Lounge in Milton Keynes.

We ladies dressed up in frocks and heels while the males brought out their suits - the staff at the Orchid Lounge always make you feel like some kind of VIP! While we were enjoying our meal I looked up and saw this:

Which made me giggle as it reminded me of this:

You'll be glad to know that nothing came crashing down on our heads while we dined though!

The food was gorgeous as always and beautifully decorated:

This dish, with it's fabulous carved flower embellishment, was chicken wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. "It's the best chicken I've ever tasted," my eldest son whispered reverently - thinking with his stomach again!

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent best wishes to my lovely daughter. I'll be back tomorrow with more photos - see you then.

Oh Hello - it's a chevron tree this Christmas!

I actually made one of these cards at the beginning of the week, inspired by the Tree theme at Less is More, but didn't get round to blogging it with all the excitement over Stampin' Up discounting all those stamp sets (see above!) Since then, I've been looking at my discounted sets and it occurred to me that I could make my stylised tree with the Oh Hello set too. I'm probably making no sense at all (no change there then!) but come and have a look anyway:

This is the first one I made - a curve-cornered panel topped with a simple tree shape made with the Chevron punch and decorated with a single gem. I added the sentiment from Wishing You, which was coloured with markers to get the two colours. Here's a close up of that fun little tree:

The second card is designed along the same lines but using the patchwork-style chevron stamp from Oh Hello. I stamped it in Gumball Green and used Raspberry Ripple card stock (it's a lovely dark pinky red not the bright red it appears in the photo!)

And here's a close up of the tree:

I used a marker to add a trunk for my tree and then stamped the edging stamp over the tree using Garden Green and getting the positioning right with the aid of my stamp-a-majig. In keeping with the homespun style of the stamp, I added a heart to top my tree and gave it a little pot to sit in by snipping the top and bottom off a larger punched heart.

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

Stamps: Wishing You, Oh Hello

Ink: Gumball Green, Garden Green classic inks plus markers

Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White

Other: Chevron, small heart and 2 step owl punches, Basic Rhinestones, 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.

Customers placing orders of £250+

will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get

freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,

why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?

My daughter was lucky enough to go along to along to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's production of Richard II yesterday evening. I'm afraid I lost all my dignity when she told me. "Sqeeee!" I shrieked, "David Tennant's in that!" and then tried to recover by adding: "and of course it's a marvellously educational opportunity." After that I gave up any semblance of maturity and as my daughter left the house called after her: "Give my love to Davy T!"

The gorgeous er I mean the esteemed actor
David Tennant plays Richard II

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

Wishing You a happy little birthday

I thought all my children had grown out of the 'I'm just off to a birthday party, do you have a card' phase but you'll be glad to know that my youngest son is still flying the flag for disorganisation! Please welcome for my Three Minute Thursday slot this week a little card made in seconds for a 13 year old boy:

It struck me that the pile of presents image in the new Christmas stamp set Wishing You would work equally well for a birthday card and would appeal to a young man of 13! I coloured the rubber with markers and stamped on some scrap card stock before cutting them out speedily with my sharp paper snips.

I reached for Stampin' Up's handy pre-cut card bases for this project, stamping the sentiment using a stamp-a-majig and attaching the presents with dimensionals for a bit of interest. Phew! Card made! I just had time to wrap a large bar of chocolate in some retired designer paper and off we went - all ready to party!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Wishing You, Morning Meadow
Ink: Cajun Craze classic ink and marker, Garden Green, Island Indigo markers
Card stock: Whisper White, Note cards and envelopes
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.
• Customers placing orders of £250+ will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!
• If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues, why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?


My daughter has been fretting about what to wear to a halloween party and spent much of the weekend discussing ideas for various costumes. I entered into the spirit of this of course, but when I asked where the party was being held was startled by the reply: "Oh I dunno. I haven't been invited to one yet!"

See you tomorrow,