Wedding Card - well, what else could it be?

Hello, hope you are all ready for enjoying this royal wedding day. Me?, I have a date with the sofa and the telly and have no intention of moving except to get more tea - can't wait!


But before I get settled for the day I just want to share this card with you.  I was inspired by this digi image from a kit called "Peppermint Twist" and wanted to do something with a repeating element over a patterned trail at the bottom of a card, so I produced this card as a first thought.

Close up of detail

Which I then developed into this Wedding card.

Close up at detail.

I used the "Lap of Luxury" DSP, (Cat No. 120436, Pg 90), the "Heart to Heart" punch, (Cat No. 119881, Pg 105), and the "Small Heart" punch, (Cat No. 117193, Pg 106). I freehanded the parrallel lines and went over them with lots and lots of glitter glue, you can never have too much sparkle when it's for a wedding, before adhearing the hearts over the top and adding more dots of glitter glue over the bottom of the card.

I also decorated the inside using the "I {Heart} Hearts" stamp set, (Cat No. 118571 Pg 18), which I stamped in "Concord Crush" ink, (Cat No, 119785, Pg 81)

Continuing the love inside

Hope you have a wonderful day, whatever you are up to, chat again later :o)  xx

Strength & Hope stamp set - long post this one.

Well, it feels like the summer is on it's way at last, not because of the weather but because I've finally watched a few games of baseball - thank god for the Internet and the ability to watch games whenever you want, I'm way too old to sit up to watch games live these days - lol!

Anyway, on to something much more important, the Stampin' Up "Strength & Hope" stamp set.

"Strength & Hope" Stamp Set

This is a beautiful stamp set with £1.00 from every one sold going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 
Breast cancer charities are ones that I particularly support as I have had both friends and family struck with this terrible illness.  Also, a few years ago I gave up work and went back to University full time to do a Masters Degree, and during this time I worked in a lingerie shop in Twickenham.  Whilst there I had the privilege to help a few ladies post mastectomy.  The strength, courage and hope that these ladies showed during, what must have been the worst moments of their life was just humbling.  One lady even appologied to me in case I got upset seeing her without a top on - can you believe it, she was worried about me!!  I can honestly say that those 15 - 20 mins I took helping her was probably the most important and personally rewarding thing I have every done.  This is why I am so happy that Stampin' Up has created this marvellous stamp set that is so aptly named.

Gift Card

I made this little gift card with my first play with these great stamps, followed by something a little more ornate.

Strength & Hope card

I know you will love this set and get a lot of pleasure playing with it, I'm off to play a bit more, in the mean time, download the new Mini catalogue from the link on the left of this page, go to page 31 and see it for yourself.  It's available as a wooden stamp set or as a clear block cling set, it's also availabile in French and German.  So all you have to do then is decide which one you want then contact me and I'll happily sort out the order for you, and lets hope that together we make a shed load of money for this very worthy cause

thanks a lot for reading this far, nice chatting to you again - take care :o)  xx

Another male card

Hello everyone.  So to continue with my male themed cards, I wanted to bring a bit of colour into men's lives so came up with this.

Male card

I used the beautiful "Medallion" stamp, (Cat Ref; 115223, Pg 61), which I have to say I'm getting quite a lot of use out of. I deliberately left the sentiment off on this card as I wanted to wait until I decided which 'male' in my family I was going to give it to to ensure that the sentiment would be most appropriate.
I ended up stamping the image four times on the different coloured cardstock to get a good impression, so had enough bits to make a few more cards, so I added a bit of white satin ribbon, (Cat Ref; 114616, Pg 96), and now I have a more female version too.

Female version

Hope you are enjoying your weekend, chat some more soon..  :o)  xx

Male cards

Hello, got a few male birthdays coming up so thought I'd better start creating a few male appropriate cards to have in stock.

This was quite a simple card to make, stuck to classic black, white and red colour combo, with the sentiment stamped in versa mark ink and embossed with white embossing powder.
The patterned paper is from the "Love Letter" collection, (Cat ref; 117162, pg 89), which I love.  Whilst ribbon is quite feminine, I think the bigness and boldness of the 32mm Striped Grosgrain, (Cat ref; 119768. pg 97),  can be quite manly but obviously not with a bow, so I attached a bit of red bakers twine to give it a bit of interest.

Take care, have a great weekend and chat again soon :o)

"Charisma Cardz" Colour Challenge

So I thought I would look around and see what other challenges would be fun to do and I found these guys  http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/

Their challenge was to make a card using Pink, Green and Black, so I had a little go and produced this card.

It's using a technique I wanted to try for ages but never got round to it.  The technique is to stamp a 'solid' block of colour using a clear mount block to transfer the colour - well, you have to make the most of what you have in your stash, and as you can see, it produces a mottled effect, which I think looks great.
I stamped Pear Pizzazz ink, (Cat Ref 119784, Pg 81), for the block of colour on to Pink Pirouette cardstock, (Cat ref 116203, Pg 83),  and used StazOn black ink, (Cat Ref 101406, Pg103),  for the flower and sentiment, both of which come from the "Because I Care" stamp set, which is a free Lv1 hostess set. I also added a little Certainly Celery 3mm taffeta ribbon, (Cat No 119255, Pg 96) and stuck the cardstock onto a Pear Pizzazz A6 card blank.

I'm happy with the effect, I think I will have to have a bit more of a play with this technique using the other sizes of clear blocks that I have.

Happy chatting... xx

Last minute challenge entry

Phew, just enough time to post this card for the challenge over at http://simplystampinchallenge.blogspot.com/

The challenge was to use only the following colours: Very Vanilla; Wild Wasabi; Pink Pirouette and Bravo Burgundy.
I'm not too happy with this card, it is still missing something, but I don't have any more time to sort it out, but I was happy with clear embossed pattern behind the flower and also with the flower,  which was made with a scallop punch that I cut into to make petals and then stamped with the flower stamp out the of the Lv. 1 Hostess Set "Punch Potpourri".  That means it was a free stamp set. Hopefully I won't leave next weeks challenge until the last couple of hours before I start crafting!!
If you are interested in how to get free crafting stuff like stamp sets or paper packs, then please get in contact.

Another 'scrappy' card

Another project to used up some smallish scraps of designer series paper.

This card was made using the  "Sunny Garden" collection which I just cut up into various size rectangles and arranged on an A6 "Sahara Sand" card blank. 
I used the "Curly Label" punch to cut out the sentiment, then stuck it onto some "Pear Pizzazz" card stock and cut round it, leaving a small gap between the punched shape and cardstock.  I also added a few buttons from the "Brights" designer buttons collection. 
The faux stitching round all of the pieces of designer paper where made using a "Chocolate Chip" marker.

I left it nice and generic, from a sentiment point of view, so that it would be suitable for many occasions.

Have a great day and I'll be back soon to chat some more :o) xx

Simply Stampin' Challenge

The following card is the one I've done in response to the challenge on the Simply Stampin' site.  http://simplystampinchallenge.blogspot.com/

It's a 5 x 7" card for a change.  The colour combo I used was Stampin' Up colours "Basic Black", "Riding Hood Red", "Very Vanilla" and "Sahara Sand".  I used "Love Letter" designer series paper on the lower section of the page.  The stamp set used is "Thanks for Caring" and the shape on the front of the card was cut using the "Top Note" die, both can be found in the new mini catalogue.  I put some bakers twine around the die cut shape and inked the edges of the card blank.  You can't see it in this photo, but there is also glitter on the butterflies wings.
If you like making cards and fancy a challenge, then head over to the Simply Stampin' site and have a go for yourself.
Chat later :o) xx

Another Mother's day project

So my son Ben also needed something to send to my mum, so I thought I'd make something a little more personal, oh and green as it's her favourite colour.

This card is just under 100mm x 100mm when folded, as it was made out of A4 cardstock which is only 297mm long.

 I adhered a piece of white printer paper to the centre panel so that there was somewhere for Ben to write his message.

I used my PC to put a sentiment in a scroll, printed it out, stuck it onto Pear Pizzazz cardstock and cut round it.

For the front I cut up and adhered small squares of the "Woodland Walk" designer paper.  The photo is of my mum and Ben when he was a baby.  I put that inside a chipboard frame from my stash that I had painted green and given a coat of glossy accents to so it would be all shiny.  I also added a couple of pearls up in the top right hand corner, just to balance it off,

Other than this particular chipboard frame, the products used are in main catalogue, which you can either see by clicking on the picture of the catalogue on the left side of the this post or by buying your own copy from me.
Any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact, I do like to chat after all :o) xx

Mother's Day projects

A couple of weekends ago I have the great pleasure of staying with my lovley 'Upline' Sarah-Jane and her adorable family. Whilst there I joined in her class where we made items especially for Mother's day.

As you can see, we made a card and decorated a candle.  Believe it or not but the candle was easily the fastest thing to do, and is so effective.

When I got home I was inspired, so I also made a little bag to match that I put fudge in for my mum.

 

This bag was actually made out of an 5 x 7"envelope, I aslo used a polka dot embossing folder to give it a bit more interest.

"Sweet Summer" was the stamp set used which was one that you could get for free as part of the Sale-a-bration event that Stampin' Up had a a couple of months ago.

If you would like to know more about any of the products used, how you too can get free stamp sets or how to make the envelope bag, how to decorate a candle or make unusual shaped cards, then get in contact.  Take care.  :o)  xx

New Mini-Catalogue - YAY!!

The new Stampin' Up mini-catalogue has arrived, with loads of great new products including the Sizzix Big Shot machine along with some dies and embossing folders, some of which are exclusive to Stampin' Up, oh, and if you already have a machine, such as a Cuttlebug,  then don't worry, they also work with those too.

Clink HERE to go to the new mini-catalogue.

Stampin' Up Mini Catalogue

Soon as you decide what you would like, get in contact and you too could be playing with these gorgeous new goodies.

Chat later xx

Leftover bits card

Hi there,

Add caption

Very brief post today as I will be back later with information on the new Stampin' Up mini catalogue - it's got great stuff in it - yay!!

This card is made up from left over bits of pretty paper.  I don't know about you, but I can't bear to throw anything away but then you end up with loads of scraps taking up the room that the lovely new stuff could have  :o)

This card uses scraps from both 'Greenhouse Gala' and 'Woodland Walk' designer series paper, (page 89 in current catalogue), as well as a couple of retired buttons.

Chat again later.... xx