Mixed Bouquet - Ruby Wedding

This is a Ruby Wedding Anniversary card made for a relative this evening, primarily using Stampin' Up! products. I wanted to try the Mixed Bouquet set with a completely different colour scheme (contrast the pumpkin and green samples in previous posts) and also with a different technique; I've stamped and cut out the images here, as contrasted with the One Sheet Wonder and background stamping used on previous cards.

The patterned background paper was a scrap I found on my desk. The card itself was made from half a sheet of Rose Red cardstock and the scalloped mount was cut from Creamy Caramel cardstock. I've used Watercolour Wonder Crayons to colour the image; I can't use these crayons enough! They're brilliant.

The card also follows the Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge layout number 161 (click here to see the SCS gallery and the other SC161 cards):-

Products used (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Mixed Bouquet

- card: Rose Red; Creamy Caramel; Whisper White

- ink: Black Stazon

- other: Watercolour Wonder Crayons; Stampin' Dimensionals 3D foam pads (to mount the rose); Hodgepodge Hardware metal spiral

Non-SU products:-

- ribbon: May Arts

- glitter: Stickles glitter glue (on on the rose)

- self-adhesive gems: deep pink gems (in the corners of the scallop mount) by Hero Arts

Make and Take cards...

I designed both of these cards as cards which were supposed to be easy for someone who had never stamped before... they seemed to do the job, as I had three ladies try them out last night (two of whom had never stamped) and they managed to make perfect copies! I was really pleased - as were they.

The card shown above uses two of my favourite things... the Paisley background stamp and Pumpkin Pie ink!

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Paisley background; Circle of Friendship

- card: Whisper White; Pumpkin Pie; Real Red

- ink: Pumpkin Pie; Real Red

- other: white Signo gel pen; red gingham ribbon; 1" circle punch; 1 3/8" circle punch; scallop punch

The second card, shown below, is a variant of a previous card posted a few weeks ago. It uses the Simply Said stamp set, which is an excellent and versatile set.

Another Move

This is the second card made with the Loads of Love stamp set. An almost identical layout to that of the previous card... The ribbon is Stampin' Up! moss gingham and the backing card is SU Night of Navy.

Note of Thanks

I made a couple of these relatively quick Thank You cards earlier. I really like this style of card. The scallop circle, circle punches and central stamp (Circle of Friendship) are from Stampin' Up!

The background stamp is an old American Stampin' Up! stamp (Dots and Daisies, I think) and the patterned paper is by Basic Grey (Blush). The ribbon is by Creative Impressions.

More Mixed Bouquet...

Another card created with the OSW mentioned in the previous post and the Mixed Bouquet stamp set. The paper on the left hand side is a portion of Certainly Celery "designer series" paper. The three red flowers at the top of the card were separately stamped, cut and adhered to the portion of OSW, with a brad in the centre of the larger flower.

Mixed Bouquet

Another card using the Mixed Bouquet stamp set. This one was very quick and easy and the portion mounted on the red cardstock on the left forms part of a "One Sheet Wonder" (otherwise known as an "OSW") made using the set. Here's a photo of part of the OSW:-

If you haven't tried this technique before, it is very straight forward... and the name is a hint! It involves taking a blank sheet of card and covering the entire sheet with various stamped images in colours of your choice. The images can be quite random or more "pre-planned" - it's all a matter of personal preference and trying a few different sheets will give you an idea of the effects you can achieve. Thereafter, you can cut and use portions of the sheet of card to make cards or other projects. I've made three cards with my OSW thus far and I've still got two-thirds of the OWS left to use. It's also a good way of getting the ball rolling if you're having a "creativity block". I find it almost impossible NOT to create at least a few half decent projects with parts of an OSW.

The right hand side of this card was stamped with the outline leaves from the Mixed Bouquet set.

Happiness... a new Stampin' Up! Promotion!

For the month of February, Stampin' Up! will be offering a new promotion... for each £35 spent on any Stampin' Up! products, you will be entitled to purchase one of three "two step" stamp sets at 25% off. The three sets included in the promotion are as follows:-

- Mixed Bouquet (page 42); discounted price: £21.71

- Big Bold Birthday (page 35); discounted price: £20.21

- Shapes & Shadows (page 54); discounted price: £22.46

Please contact me for more information by clicking here.

This is an excellent promotion and gives an opportunity to purchase one (or more!) of three very versatile sets at a discounted price. The card shown above was made using the Mixed Bouquet set.

"Two step" is a stamping technique which layers one image over another. Please click here to visit the Stampin' Up website for more information on this technique. Alternatively, please contact me to arrange a demonstration. Stampin' Up has many sets which are designed in this manner, including the three sets which form part of the promotion.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Mixed Bouquet; Canvas background stamp; Welcoming Words ("Happiness")

- ink: Old Olive; Pumpkin Pie; Summer Sun; Real Red; Certainly Celery

- card: Whisper White; Pumpkin Pie; Real Red

- ribbon: red gingham

- punches: scallop circle punch; 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches

- adhesive: adhesive tape and Stampin' Dimensionals 3D foam pads

- other: white Signo gel pen (for the petals of the scallop circle)

French Heart

A quick card! I've deliberately avoided including a sentiment, as I don't necessarily want to use it as a Valentine or other specific type of card. I thought leaving it "blank" would give more flexibility. The central heart scallop was mounted with 3D foam pads.

Stampin' Up! Products:-

- stamps: En Francais background; Happy Hearts set

- ink: Ruby Red

- card: Whisper White and Ruby Red

- ribbon: Whisper White

- punches: scallop circle and circle

Other products: "Kraft" card; four Hero Arts pale blue self-adhesive gems; Quickutz Revolution die cuts (square scallop and inner square with circular centre); Basic Grey "Blush" heart patterned paper

Just Moved!

I haven't moved anywhere, in fact... but I know two people who are moving home next week. This card was made for one of them - and her favourite colours are (quite obsessively!) orange and green... hence the colours used for the card. I think the Loads of Love set is excellent - it has so many uses - and the Stamp-a-ma-jig makes it so easy to align the various "accessories" in the back of the truck!

Stampin' Up! products:-

- stamps: Loads of Love and Loads of Love Accessories sets

- card: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White and Brocade Background designer series patterned paper

- ink: Black Stazon

- watercolouring: Watercolour Wonder Crayons

- punches: 1 1/8" and 1 3/8" circle punches

- misc: Stamp-a-ma-jig

Other products:-

Stickles Stardust glitter glue; three black pearl brads (Bazzill); green/orange ribbon (I think it's from May Arts, but I'm not certain)

... Many More Cheers!

I (almost) can't believe I've made YET ANOTHER card with the Cheers to You stamp set! It is becoming a habit.

This one is quite different, primarily because the colours are quite different from those used in the previous cards. Lots of pink blue and green.

The scrolls were made using a Quickutz Revolution die (and making use of the "negative"/leftover pieces too). I think the card possibly needs a third scroll coming from the left hand side of the circle on the bottom left (pointing towards the bottom of the card) for balance, but I'll think about adding that another time... no time this evening!

There's some Stickles Stardust glitter glue dotted on each of the "petals" of the turquoise scalloped circle, as well as the cocktail glass. The turquoise scallop was created using a non-SU punch.

Products (all Stampin' Up):-

- stamps: Cheers to You

- ribbon: Tempting Turquoise grosgrain

- card: Whisper White; Tempting Turquoise; and Old Olive (the latter for the scrolls)

- ink: Black Stazon and Tempting Turquoise

- paper: Paisleys & Petails designer series paper

- other: 1 1/4" circle punch; scallop circle punch

Cocktails and Flowers

Yet another card made using the Cheers to You set... with some flowers from the Sending Happy Thoughts set. I've tried to use "tropical" colours. The flowers on the left remind me of a Hawaiian garland.

Products (all Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Sending Happy Thoughts (flowers); Cheers to You; Polka Dot background (right hand side; stamped with Real Red ink)

- card: Real Red; Whisper White; Only Orange

- ink: Real Red; Only Orange; Black Stazon

- watercolouring: Watercolour Wonder Crayons

Other: Hero Arts yellow self-adhesive gems (flower centres); Stardust Stickles glitter glue; red ribbon with white stitching from Creative Impressions; scallop square punch

Bergamo Fog!

This is the view from the top of San Vigilio (at the top of the second funicular in Bergamo's citta alta (old town)) on a foggy day! The fog started off gently on Sunday, but by Sunday evening there was thick fog everywhere and it was absolutely freezing.

More Cheers!

Tuesday evening... although it feels like Monday. I think I've "lost" a day because I was in Italy on Friday and Monday. Losing Monday has to be a good thing?

This is another card made this evening using the Stampin' Up! "Cheers to You" set, which I love. I can't use this set enough! It was grey and a bit rainy here today (and it was freezing first thing this morning; there was ice everywhere), so the thought of a brightly coloured cocktail is almost enough to produce a cheery feeling and thoughts of summer. Almost... but who am I kidding!? Perhaps I'm delusional... it's January!

The right hand side of the card is stamped with the Canvas background stamp using Apricot Appeal ink. The mount behind the stamped piece has also been stamped with the Canvas background, this time using Basic Black ink on So Saffron paper.

Stampin' Up products:-

- rubber stamps: Cheers to You and Canvas background

- ribbon: Pumpkin Pie grosgrain and black gingham

- card: Only Orange, Whisper White and So Saffron

- ink: Basic Black and Apricot Appeal

- designer series striped paper: Petals & Paisleys

- watercolouring: Watercolour Wonder crayons

- 3D foam pads: Stampin' Dimensionals

- punch: 1 1/4 inch circle

Non SU products: Hero Arts citrus green self adhesive gems; two scallop square punches; and Stickles Stardust glitter glue.

Back!

I was in Italy from Friday morning until this afternoon, hence the silence...

I returned home to find a package awaiting for me - it contained some of the new Penny Black spring rubber stamps and I've made a card using one of them this evening. I love rabbit stamps and this is a great one! The rabbit image is watercoloured.

Products:-

Card/Paper: Hero Arts pink blank card and matching envelope; Daisy D's "Maybe Baby"

Ribbon: Stampin' Up! black gingham

Die Cut: Quickutz heart (part of the new 2008 Valentine range)

Sentiment: new 2008 Hero Arts acrylics

Ink: Black Stazon

Other: Doodlebug Design Valentine gems (one amber, one dark pink and one medium pink); Copic Spica AtYou clear glitter pen (on the hearts); Stampin' Up! black brads

Daffodils?

A friend of mine who lives in America sent me a massive bundle of cardstock pre-stamped with lots of Stampin' Up images... all I had to do was cut them from the sheets of card; two of them have been used for this card and both are from the "Garden Silhouettes" stamp set, which I do not have - but need to obtain ASAP, as it's great. Thanks, Arlene!!

I mounted the daffodils (well... I think they look like daffodils!) on some Pumpkin Pie cardstock. I stamped the right hand portion of the "kraft" card with the En Francais background stamp using Certainly Celery ink. I added some Stardust Stickles to the stamped image which is adhered to the left hand side - it really adds something and looks a bit like extra glittery branches, although it's not terribly visible in the photos.

The gingham ribbon is by Doodlebug and the piece of paper which looks like ric rac ribbon was cut using a Quickutz Revolution die and a scrap of green paper.

The "friendship" stamp is from the Circle of Friendship stamp set and it was stamped on So Saffron card using Old Olive ink and punched out using the 1" circle punch. It was mounted on another punched circle (Old Olive cardstock), punched using the 1 3/8" circle punch.

Smells Fishy!

I made a birthday card this evening... it's a specific "target" for a male who is about to turn 30 and who likes fishing! (You've probably guessed that by now).

Products:-

- stamp: Paper Nation (fisherman)

- Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery cardstock (for the main card)

- Basic Grey "Obscure" patterned paper (left hand side)

- Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie cardstock (for the die cuts and mount)

- Quickutz mini tag and numbers "3" and "0" dies

- Stampin' Up! yellow coloured ("gold") hemp twine (not available in the UK)

- Stampin' Up! metallic brads

- Stampin' Up! Watercolour Wonder Crayons (to colour the stamped image)

- Stickles Stardust glitter glue (on the fish)

The Stickles on the fish makes its scales shimmer! The gold hemp really struck a chord with me, as my brother fishes and I've seen him use yellow fishing line which looks fairly similar.

Find Joy

This is a quick card with very little stamping. The background was creating by running the card through the Cuttlebug with the flower/dot embossing folder and I've inked around the edge of the card. The scallop on the left hand side is a Quickutz Revolution die cut, as are the two oval die cuts in the centre. The flower brads are by Making Memories.

The dot stamp and the "find joy" stamps are from Stampin' Up - they're part of the "Polka Dots and Paisley" set. I've used two shades of SU blue ink and the co-ordingating envelope has been stamped with two of the flower stamps - the solid flower and the petal outline - from the same set (which you can just see in the lower right of the photo if you click on it to enlarge it).

There's a possibility of snow here again tomorrow morning. I'm not convinced! We'll see...

Beer Cheers

This is a card which I made this afternoon for a male's 30th birthday. Masculine cards are often difficult to keep masculine, so I've deliberately avoided any ribbon bows (albeit I think it's possible to get away with some knotted gingham), scallops, gemstones or other "bling". I've used some red holographic circular peel off stickers on the corners of the black card mount for the stamped piece and another three of the same peel offs on the black corner die cut on the lower right... the card needed something to lift it, but I think even these peel offs are pushing it and seem slightly "camp"!

The beer stamp for this set is great for bloke-related cards... I don't know many Scottish men who don't like beer.

Products:-

- stamps: Stampin' Up "Cheers to You" stamp set; "Canvas" background stamp; and "Polka Dot" background stamp (lower 2cm of red card only);
- ribbon: Stampin' Up black gingham;
- card: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Basic Black and Real Red cardstock;
- Ink: black Stazon; Stampin' Up Brocade Blue
- Other: Stickles Stardust glitter glue; Stampendous red holographic circle peel-offs; Stampin' Up Dimensionals foam pads; Quickutz 2" x 2" corner die; Stampin' Up 1" circle punch; Stampin' Up Watercolour Wonder Crayons (to colour the beer mug).

The layout for this card was (roughly!) based on Beate's sketch challenge, which you can see on her excellent and inspiring blog; here's a copy of this week's sketch:-

I've placed my sentiment in the upper right at the end of the long top strip and my left hand image is square and not circular (and on the large side), but it's otherwise pretty much true to the sketch - it's called "artistic licence"!

Flying Cow

This is the largest cow in my craft room... the flying cow on the ceiling obtained during a trip to Prague...

Pink & Black...

I made this card earlier this evening... the colour scheme and idea were not mine! I love the look of SU Pixie Pink with Basic Black. The stamp set is SU "Simply Said", which is a great set with lots of possibilities - so many stamps in one set!

I followed written instructions from a friend in America, Arlene, and diligently measured out all of the pieces of cardstock etc without really knowing what the final product would look like (which was quite entertaining - a magical mystery stamping tour!). I made a bit of a balls of the white stamped piece... I couldn't quite understand the instructions (because I'm D-U-M-B), but I think there was supposed to be some sort of folded mini card adhered to the front. I produced a "variation on a theme" and went off on a frolic of my own at that stage... I added some Stardust Stickles glitter glue around the flowers and a couple of black die cuts as leaves... the die cuts were actually the left-overs from the black flower Cuttlebug die cut used on the other Hero Arts card posted earlier!

I'll definitely use this colour scheme again.

Be Yourself

Another quick card made using one of the new Hero Arts tree stamps and a couple of clear acrylic Hero Arts stamps. I love the natural look of the brown "kraft" cards more than any other card, but they're quite flimsy... The Tombo Multi gave a bit of weight to the front, but the rear section still feels flimsy.

Happy Everything

This is a quick card created using one of the new Hero Arts "Card Art" stamps... it comes packaged with two brown "kraft" cards and envelopes and a couple of strips of self adhesive gems. It's a fairly large stamp.

The composition isn't earth shattering. I've watercoloured the image after stamping it with Black Stazon on SU So Saffron cardstock. The black and So Saffron floral die cuts were made using Cuttlebug dies and the brad is a pearl effect brad (I think it's by Bazzill). I've used three of the self adhesive gems to lift the image a bit. I think the green/white paper is from the Basic Grey Lily Kate collection. I've chalked the edges with a sponge and Spanish Olive chalk ink.

This is the first card I've created using Tombo Multi glue. I bought a bottle a while ago and this is the first opportunity I've had to try it out. I'm hooked! It's dries like concrete (but it is not brittle like some cheap glue sticks), although you have the chance to slide it around a bit very quickly before it dries, which is great for aligning paper (e.g. the backing paper on the right hand side) and much better than Tombo mono, sticky dots, double-sided tape or other adhesives that don't give the opportunity to move something once positioned.

"Be careful what you say... 'cos reality offends"; (c) David Gray - "When a Century Ends".

Craft Room... Flarke!

This is a new item purchased from Ikea for my craft room... I picked it up the other evening along with the extra Bygel poles. It's called a "Flarke" (http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90086985) and it was a bargain at £9.99. It's a pretty flimsy unit, I suppose, but it more than does the job for craft items (or cds - which is what it was manufactured for!). It's also very slender... which is a good job, as my craft room is really a big cupboard with a window and I've had to squash this in behind the door! Yes, I jest not - it is behind the door and I keep the door wedged open with a wooden wedge to make space for it. I have no storage space left, so it's a case of "beggars can't be choosers"!

There are four shelves. I've used one for my Stampin' Up background stamps (a perfect fit), one for 6x6 paper pads (<> .... yes, I do have THAT many and I couldn't fit the others on the shelf...) and Cuttlebug embossing folders standing upright, one for some SU stamps and the final shelf for an assortment of blank cards and DCWV paper and card "stack" pads.

I'm trying to clear out my room at the moment to make way for the two additional Bygel poles... you can see the current two in situ along with all my mess (and cows):-

The little white Quickutz Magpie storage unit has been moved from the left side of the desk to the right to make a space on the wall. It has already made a huge difference and I can see my desk again, which is a revelation.

Wind and Rats...

We had horrific weather overnight last night. The wind was the worst I've experienced in five or more years. I think the gusts were up to 100mph. We thought the roof was going to blow off of our house. We got up at 2am to retrieve our wheelie bin, which had bounced off my car and disappeared 20 metres down the street. When we got up again this morning, it had gone off on another frolic - 50 metres away. It's "bin day" tomorrow and the binmen won't have much rubbish to take away - almost everyone seems to have had a wheelie bin incident last night, with the result that most local rubbish has emptied itself - all over the streets!

Almost all of the main local "big" bridges were closed today - e.g. the Erskine bridge and the Forth road bridge - and much of the public transport was cancelled. I think most of our trees have remained intact, which is amazing. Several of my friends have broken house alarms, phone lines, roof tiles and trees... The BBC web-site is showing photos of numerous trashed cars.

On a lighter note, I ordered some of the new Basic Grey "Two Scoops" paper, buttons, brads and clear acrylic stamps on Monday and they were delivered today. I made this quick card using the paper (shown on the left hand side), together with some SU Sage Shadow, Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock and two of the flower stamps from the SU "Sending Happy Thoughts" set.

I went to Ikea last night (pre-wind!) to buy a couple more of those "Bygel" metal poles for my craft room... I've yet to screw them to the wall, but I'll get to it in the next few days. I also bought this in Ikea:-

It's called "Minnen Ratta" (yep, it's a stuffed rat toy) - can you believe it? It's pretty big - a foot long including the tail! - and they're also selling sets of three tiny mice. I demonstrated it to my mum and she had a hairy fit! From a distance - and particularly with the long tail - it does look quite rodent-like and not necessarily like a stuffed toy... I think it's quite cute, but it's an odd thing to sell as a cuddly toy... Anyway, "Ratta" the rat now has pride of place in my craft room and he's jostling for room with my cows. I didn't buy any of the stuffed mice - I thought that would be too close to the bone given our recent house mouse problem.

Overnight Snow

It snowed for six hours from midnight - quite heavily at times - with the result that we had a thin layer of snow cover this morning. It had started melting quite considerably by the time I took this shot late morning. The sky looks very white - snow clouds? The forecast is for rain with a small additional amount of snow around 6pm. I wonder whether we'll get any more this winter. I wouldn't count on it, as we had merely one day of snow last year!

Further Happy Thoughts!

My cup is clearly overfloweth with happy thoughts at the moment, which makes a pleasant change from my usual grumpy demeanour!

This card was made using half a sheet of Pumpkin Pie cardstock folded and creased. The patterned paper on the lower portion is part of a sheet taken from the Certainly Celery "Designer Series" paper pack (page 73 of the UK catalogue), with a strip of Old Olive cardstock adhered on top. I chose this particular sheet of patterned paper because the white flowers appeared to dovetail well with the little flower in the centre of the stamped piece (albeit part of it is now hidden by a brad!).

The scalloped circle was punched from a sheet of So Saffron cardstock and the two circles adhered to the scallop were punched from Old Olive and Whisper White cardstock respectively. The floral stamp was stamped on the white cardstock (before it was punched - this makes it easier to centre the piece in the circle punch by turning the punch upside down before punching) using Pumpkin Pie ink and a metal brad was added to the centre of the piece once all of the pieces had been adhered together. Thereafter, two short pieces of Pumpkin Pie ribbon were taped to the rear of the scallop to give a "medallion" feel and it was mounted on the card with Stampin' Dimensionals foam pads - I've used this effect on quite a few cards and it's quick and easy. As with the previous card, glitter has been applied in dot formation to the edges of the scalloped piece. The "sending happy thoughts" sentiment is stamped in Old Olive ink.

Snow!

This is a photo of the snow we had yesterday (3rd January) about 2.30pm... it lasted a grand total of FIVE minutes! Other parts of the UK had much more snow (in particular, the east of Scotland and the north east of England). We were wondering what all the fuss was about!

It's now 2am on 4th January... and, as forecast, it has been snowing fairly heavily since midnight. It's forecast to snow until 6am, but we'll see! If the snow is still there in the morning, I'll take another photo. I don't fancy venturing outside at the moment.

More Happy Thoughts...

This card was created using the stamps from the "Sending Happy Thoughts" set and a couple of the stamps from the "In the Spotlight" hostess set. It was incredibly quick and easy to make, as there are no real layers except the punched flower heads. You could make a batch of these fairly quickly, which is great if you need a quick card or two.

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive.

Stamps: "Sending Happy Thoughts" (both flowers and the stem and leaves on the left) and "In the Spotlight" hostess set (the stem and leaves on the right).

Punches: scallop circle punch and an assortment of the circle punches.

Ink: Real Red and Old Olive.

Extras: glue pen and SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter (used for the centres of the flowers and on each of the scallop "petals").

If you would like to order this set or see a demonstration/host a workshop, please contact me.

Sending Happy Thoughts

I've been using the "Sending Happy Thoughts" (Simply Sent) kit to create quite a few cards and gifts. I love this kit. It's shown on page 75 of the current UK Stampin' Up! Catalogue and Idea book.

The instructions for two cards are included with the kit, but there's so much more you can do with the various items which are included. It was the stamp set itself which tempted me to purchase the kit, as I really like the various cheery, modern flower stamps which are included; in addition, the "Sending Happy Thoughts" sentiment is fairly universal and should be very useful as a default stamp for a number of cards. The kit seems - and is - expensive as a single purchase item at £49.95, although it is actually incredibly good value when you consider the number of items included. The stamp set alone includes six stamps. The stamps are die cut, which makes them very quick and simple to mount. I've been mounting stamps for years and I don't find the process a difficult one anyway, but this simplified things even more! The kit even includes Stampin' Dimensionals 3D foam, glue dots, lots of zig zag twill ribbon, brads, a glue pen and glitter. If you can afford the initial outlay, I think it is well worth taking the plunge. It's a great kit for beginners too, as it gives you enough to get going and you'll still have lots of bits and pieces (and the stamp set and inks themselves) left over for future use. The three Stampin' Spots included are a great size of ink pad; easy to store and easy to use for inking up any size of stamp.

The sample shown above uses a similar template to one of the cards included with the instructions supplied with the kit, but I've changed it a bit and added a handy bookmark/gift voucher idea. I've also added the Canvas background stamp to the Old Olive cardstock backing card. I've used some strong double-sided tape to adhere the Very Vanilla stamped piece at the top and bottom of the piece only i.e. leaving the middle section without any form of adhesion. This means that the little "bookmark" Pumpkin Pie piece can slide out from the section and be used separately. Alternatively, the Pumpkin Pie piece is the ideal size to use for a gift card e.g. a Starbucks card, which could be adhered to the rear with a couple of glue dots. The Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Pumpkin Pie pieces used for this card are those included with the kit; if you are a beginner, this is really easy to make - no trimming required. I've punched a hole in the Pumpkin Pie piece and knotted a portion of the ribbon through the hole. The red circle stamps shown on the bookmark are from the "In the Spotlight" hostess stamp set (shown on page 18 of the UK catalogue).

I've made several more cards with this kit and I'll upload them separately; many are completely different from those shown in the included instruction leaflet.

Lastly, a tip: when I've lost my inspiration and/or I don't have a specific card to make (or I lack the time to make one... which is not an entirely uncommon scenario!), I quite often create little "bits" for my "bit box"! I've heard these called "card candy" in the past, but I like to call them "bits"... I quite often make punched and stamped pieces and save them for a later day. If I'm lacking inspiration at a future date, rummaging through the box can give me the starting point and focus I need to get me started on a new project. The Sending Happy Thoughts stamp set lends itself quite well to this idea! I've attached a photo of one of my boxes.

Note: this post was also uploaded to the "Stamping for Real" blog, which is a blog created and maintained by a group of UK Stampin' Up! demonstrators. It includes lots of excellent samples.... please spare a few minutes to visit it, if you can!

Spring?

It doesn't feel a thing like Spring in Scotland, that's for sure... although I've made my first Spring card in anticipation! It rained all day today; it was rainy and foggy yesterday. I was trying to shake off that whole "Christmas" thing in the most blatant way possible!

I decided to buy the French (Voila le Printemps) version of the UK Spring Fling set and it was delivered just before Christmas. This is the first card that I've had time to make with it.

SU products: "Voila le Printemps" stamp set (tulip and sentiment stamps); "Sanded" background stamp; Certainly Celery ink; Garden Green and Rose Red Stampin' Write markers; Certainly Celery ribbon; Rose Red, Whisper White and Certainly Celery cardstock.

Non-SU products: Quickutz Revolution scroll die (Certainly Celery cardstock die-cut); Stickles Stardust glitter glue; Doodlebug self adhesive red gem.