Ready for a special occasion

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and we all know that's a Tic Tac Toe day! It's LeAnne's turn to host and she has brought together some great elements to create a board that is sure to inspire you!

 

I couldn't resist using the top row, White/Pearls/Ribbon, to create a card that would work for an engagement, a wedding or a ruby wedding anniversary. And the beauty of this card is that it was made using left-overs!

 

I started by attaching some left-over leafy vellum from a card kit to a bit of white card using spray glue. This was trimmed into a decorative shape using a label die from The Works. To top my label shape, I stamped a leaf and a rose from WPlus9's Modern Roses on more snippets, coloured them with alcohol markers and fussy cut them. A scrap of tulle and satin ribbon was wrapped around the label shape and I tucked the botanics behind it.

 

 

You can see the vellum better in this photo - I was really pleased with the look. To finish the card, I die cut a Gemini congratulations sentiment from yet another snippet of white card, arranged it on top of the ribbon and sprinkled a few pearls around the group.

Okay, so now it's your turn! My team mates have come up with some beauties to inspire you, so do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe blog to check them out. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so you can link up your own creation when you're ready. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Addicted to Stamps and More where there's a Make Your Mark challenge and hopefully my rose group will qualify; I'm also taking this card along to The Snippets Playground where Sarn is at the helm and I'm having to wear sunglasses because her Prefects Badge has been polished to such a fine shine!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Showing a celebration card today seems appropriate because I have had some wonderful news: My daughter and her long-term sweetheart are getting married next year! Needless to say, I have gone straight to Mumland and am wandering about there in the sunshine humming happy tunes! I think we're going to be running out of champagne after all this good news!!

Sending hugs,

A shining engagement

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to the latest challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches! Joanne is doing a great job of guiding us through the month of November and her latest inspiration is this versatile sketch:

I was delighted to hear recently that a lovely couple I know had got engaged and really enjoyed using this sketch to create a celebratory card for them.

I started by masking off the sides of a thick card base with sticky notes, leaving a strip exposed. Into this, I stamped a design with the flower stamp from Clearly Besotted's Perfect Lilies using versamark ink. This was heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

The background was coloured with a silver metallic pencil and the flowers shaded with a gold metallic pencil and given detail with a darker gold metallic pen.

I finished the card with a sentiment from Gemini die cut from gold foil card stock. There's a lot of shimmer and shine on this card which I've just not been able to capture on camera but I hope you can use your imagination!

And now it's over to you! The team has made some inspiring samples so do hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches blog and check them out. As usual, you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you  can share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I used the Silver/Gold colour duo at Color Hues to give a special feel to my engagement card so I'm linking up there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The back story of today's card is this: I was looking after one of my favourite little dogs one weekend and had sent photos of him to his owners who had jaunted off to London. 'He's had such a busy weekend of walking and playing,' I texted, showing a photo of him sleeping on his back with his paws in the air. I got a text back with a photo of an elegant hand bearing a diamond ring with the caption 'We've had quite a busy weekend too!' I am so pleased because from the very first time I met this couple, when I went to meet their puppy, I had everything crossed for a wedding!!

Sending hugs,

Celebrate a golden day with Stampin' Up!

If you love Stampin' Up products, I'm sure you'll have wished that you could get more of them for less money. Well, you can! Every week the company offers selected products at slashed prices and I made this celebration card...

... to celebrate this week's fabulous selection of Weekly Deals!

The subtle texture on the background is made with the Diagonal Scoring Plate that fits neatly into your Simply Scored tool. The decorative possibilities are endless with this - and the plate even makes envelopes too!

I gave my panel a pretty wrap using the fancy foil vellum with hearts, adding extra hearts cut out effortlessly with the Confetti Hearts border punch. Produce loads of tiny, perfect, delicate hearts with one click of this punch and use them for cards, scrapbooks, table confetti or sprinkled into a gift before wrapping or into an envelope before sealing it.

This stunning gold ribbon is on offer too. It's a good idea to stock up on this as it's handy for adding touches of trend-setting gold to your projects throughout the year and, if you should have any left over, will make your Christmas gifts look shiny special too!

 • I've used just a few of the items on Weekly Deal for this card. You'll be able to get these products at the special prices until Tuesday 17th June 2015. Click here to see all the current special offers

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

Bravo Photopolymer Stamp Set £23.00	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder £4.50	Banner Triple Punch £21.00	Gold Fancy Designer Vellum Foil £10.00
Diagonal Scoring Plate £11.00 now only £8.25	Gold 1/8" Ribbon £4.50 now only £3.38	Confetti Hearts Border Punch £20.00 now only £15.00	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack £15.50

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.

My golden girl is really growing up now - although she certainly doesn't think so! Here she is having 'puppy cuddles' with my 6 foot tall eldest son.

Have a wonderful weekend won't you. I'll be back on Tuesday with more crafting fun.

Guy Greetings for an engagement - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

It's Thursday and that means another round of fabulous inspiration courtesy of Stampin' Up's global Artisan design team! I love working with these talented ladies and am constantly amazed by the projects everyone comes up with each week. I know you will be too so grab a cup of something delicious, settle back and enjoy :)

A BIT OF VINTAGE ARTINESS
Spring has got to me this week I think! I spotted the Guy Greetings stamp set in our box of goodies and it occurred to me to put that gorgeous vintage car into a romantic arty setting. Come and see:

Wouldn't this make a charming engagement card?! In my head, the car has been parked in a quiet spot and a happy couple have unpacked their picnic in the spring sunshine with blossom floating down from the trees like confetti. Perhaps you can hear the pop of a champagne cork - she has said YES!

I love the nostalgic feel of the car. It was stamped with Basic Black ink, heat embossed with clear embossing powder and coloured with Garden Green ink and a blender pen to turn it British Racing Green! But what about the background?

It's all been done with the blossom stamp from Sheltering Tree to give a pointillism effect! Isn't it fun?! (And if you're wondering what on earth pointillism is, find out all about it here.) This is much simpler than real pointillism - you just ink up (and stamp off if necessary), then stamp repeatedly where you want the colour. TIPS: You can always add colour but you can't take it away so start pale! Sponging ink round the edges of the panel draws the eye in to the scene.

I hope you've enjoyed my romantic moment! Now it's time to hop off and see the rest of the team's work - just click the button below to whizz over to Allison Okamitsu!

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

Guy Greetings Photopolymer Stamp Set £23.95	Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Blender Pens £8.95	Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder £3.95	Stamping Sponges £3.25

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.

Thanks for joining me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a look at some of the amazing Weekly Deals. See you then!

Indescribable Gift - Stampin' Up artisan blog hop

Yay! It's a blog hop sort of a day! Every Thursday, the Stampin' Up artisan designers (and I still can't believe that includes me!) pull out all the stops to inspire you with some of the current products. I'm constantly amazed by my talented team mates' projects and I know you will be too as you hop around the world!

WHAT A GIFT!

I nearly fell over when I saw the goodies that Stampin' Up sent us to use in February and the stamp set I'm using today is a huge favourite! It's called Indescribable Gift which, ironically, describes it very well indeed! Come and see the card I made with it:

It's always a joy to make a card to celebrate a wedding and the beautiful blossom from Indescribable Gift is the perfect image to use with its connotations of new beginnings. I stamped the blossom in Crumb Cake classic ink several times on my panel before colouring the leaves and flowers with blendabilities markers.

The blossom looks wonderful coloured with Stampin' Up's stunning pinks but I wanted to show you how pretty a peachy-coloured blossom looks. Can you guess which colours I used? Yes, I chose Natural and Ivory from the Skin Tones Assortment - and no, these aren't just for skin!

I know what you're thinking - where did I find the peachy card stock to mount my panel on? Well, it's a white panel actually - I simply ran the brush end of the Natural pen around the edge of it before mounting my floral panel on it.

A wedding card requires something just a little bit special so I added a little dimension to just a few of the flowers by stamping them a couple more times, colouring them and cutting them out before glueing them to the originals. Some tiny pearls added the final detail and I think they look rather pretty!

It's always so much fun customising greetings isn't it? Here I stamped 'congratulations' from the Bravo photopolymer set in Calypso Coral and 'so happy for you' from the free Sale-a-bration set Simply Wonderful in Crumb Cake. Now my card says exactly what I want it to - although with Mothers' Day coming up on 15th March in the UK, this could work as a special card for mum with a change of greeting!

I hope you're inspired by my wedding card today. You'll find plenty more to enjoy as you hop around the globe visiting the other artisan designers. Click the button below to visit the fab Allison Okamitsu!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Indescribable Gift Wood Stamp Set £18.95	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Skin Tone Assortment £20.95	Wild Wasabi Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95
Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments £4.50	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Bravo Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Simply Wonderful Wood Stamp Set £0.00

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.

All this pretty blossom has been making me yearn for spring to arrive, especially since the pup and I are outside so much of the time. Thank goodness she is happy to take a daily bath because she only has to see a muddy puddle to be covered in it!

Now, are you ready for some very exciting news? Come and join me tomorrow when all will be revealed!