You Hoo

A card made for a friend last night... The owl is by Hero Arts and forms part of a set of four wood mounted owl stamps. The "You Hoo" is an acrylic stamp and was a wee bit of a pain to work with (more so than usual for an acrylic stamp), if I'm honest - it took me about five attempts to obtain a half-decent image. I'm not entirely sure what was wrong, but never mind - I got there in the end. Perhaps I was having an off day! I'm pleased with the card, though; I like the colours. The large and small branch stamps are also by Hero Arts. The button and linen thread are by SU, as is the Word Window punch (albeit not currently available in the UK).

The owl was stamped on SU Bashful Blue cardstock using Black Stazon, and then stamped again with the same ink on SU Very Vanilla cardstock. I cut the owl (minus the legs) from the vanilla cardstock and adhered it with Dimensionals to the blue cardstock. I watercoloured the owl with SU Watercolour Wonder Crayons beforehand. I coloured its feet/claws on the blue cardstock with an SU Only Orange marker. I love this little owl stamp - it's brilliant!

No time to do anything this evening... a bad start to the week (and I have a thumping migraine!)!

Congrats

A card for a friend... I wanted to use Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge for my layout and I wanted it to be quite bright and cheery.

Products used (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Simply Said; Canvas background (on the Rose Red panel); Basic Phrases

- cardstock: So Saffron; Rose Red; Very Vanilla

- ink: Black Stazon; Rose Red

- punch: Word Window (not currently available in the UK)

- other: Watercolour Wonder Crayons (to colour the stamped image)

Non-SU products: Hero Arts rose coloured self-adhesive gems; dotted organza ribbon (turquoise with brown dots); yellow and white gingham ribbon; random striped paper; brown kraft card blank card and matching envelope; Turquoise Gem Versamagic chalk ink (around the edges of the card)

You can visit Beate's blog by clicking here; the sketch is shown below. Have a go! It's an easy layout to work with.

Star

A birthday card made for a friend... I found a pack of metal star "spiral" clips in my stash and was trying to think of a slightly different way to use one of them on a card. I used a tall white card base and drew around the outline of an approximately matching shaped star die-cut. I used a craft knife to cut out the star and then tied the metal spiral clip to the card using Stampin' Up! black gingham ribbon. I'm really pleased with the effect!

The lower portion of the card comprises one piece of random striped paper, one piece of SU Pretty in Pink card stamped with some birthday text using black ink (both butted together); on top of those, I layered a "joining section" of an off-cut of a piece of SU Whisper White card which had been stamped with the "Linen" background stamp. I've used the SU corner rounder on the corners of the front and rear of the card.

Simply Sent kits

Stampin' Up! has reduced the price of both Simply Sent card kits by 10% to £44.96 each for the month of April. You can see them on pages 74 and 75 of the UK catalogue; please contact me if you would like to arrange a workshop or demonstration.

Please click here to view the Stampin' Up! information leaflet on this promotion.

These kits are great for inexperienced stampers who don't yet have any (or many) materials; the sheet of rubber has been die-cut around each of the images for you, so all you need to do is remove the stamps from the sheet of rubber and stick them to the wood to mount them - simple! Three mini Stampin' Spot ink pads are included with each set, plus loads of ribbon (far more than is shown in the catalogue) and pre-cut cardstock. The "Sending Happy Thoughts" kit also includes a glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds glitter glue, whilst the "Happy Day" kit includes three pastels (chalks) plus applicators for colouring the stamped images, a chalk eraser and some crystal gem brads. Both kits come with full instructions to make multiples of two sample cards.

The kits are equally suitable for those with more experience, as you will be able to use the contents of the kit with additional cardstock or patterned paper.

If you add up the cost of the individual bits and pieces, the kits are, in my opinion, very good value. Once you've used up the cardstock and ribbon included with the kits, you can, of course, add a pack of cardstock and/or some patterned paper and make many more cards using the stamp sets and inks/pastels/glitter etc.

I love the stamp sets included in each of the Simply Sent kits in their own right and I've made lots of cards with them other than the sample cards included with the kits. Two cards made using the "Sending Happy Thoughts" set are shown above. A sample I'm demonstrating at the moment using the stamp set, ink pads and brads from the "Happy Day" set is shown below; all you need to add is some Certainly Celery ribbon, a pack of Cutie Pie patterned paper, some So Saffron cardstock and some Bashful Blue cardstock (the latter for the base card itself); the sample is quite basic as many of my customers have just started stamping and I didn't want to overload them with too much information in one go. Bear in mind that one pack of Cutie Pie paper goes a long, long way if you are using it for card-making rather than scrapbooking; the card below uses a thin strip approximately 2 inches in width, together with a tiny scrap of ribbon adhered with a glue dot.

Another Bumble Bee

One of those weeks, this week... hence not many posts. One thing after another! I was at a work-related lunch yesterday which started at 12 noon and was still going at 6.30pm when I left (yes, it was a "lunch"). I was shattered last night. I'm glad it's Saturday.

This is another card made with a Stampendous bee stamp and matching sentiment stamp... similar colours to the card posted a week or so ago. You could use this layout with any small image stamp and small sentiment stamp, though.

The chipboard scroll has been painted and a piece of SU gingham ribbon tied around it before it was adhered to the card. There's Stickles Stardust glitter glue on the bee's wings and on the flower. The stamp used down the left hand side is also by Stampendous (a small stamp stamped multiple times). The bee was watercoloured with SU Watercolour Wonder Crayons.

Cherries

A good friend of mine sent me a gift last week containing, amongst other things, an American stamp set which includes a little cherry stamp... I love cherries! I love the matching patterned paper too.

The Eagles

We drove to London at 5am yesterday and got back this evening. It was a pilgrimage of sorts... a two day trek for the sole purpose of seeing The Eagles performing at the 02 arena in London for 2.5 hours! It was well worth the trip. I've seen them twice at Hampden stadium in Glasgow, but they have no concerts scheduled for the UK other than six nights at the 02... so I thought I'd make the effort. They were brilliant, as always. They sound as good today as (or better than) they did 30 years ago. We had excellent seats in the floor seating block which was directly in front of the stage. A brilliant way to spend Easter! My only regret is that my dad couldn't be with me this time, as they were his favourite band and he would have loved their new Long Road Out of Eden album.

A photo (taken just before the concert started) showing how near we were to the stage...

I hadn't been to the 02 (the old milleniuim dome) before, but I think it's brilliant as a music venue, with decent places to eat and lots of funky lighting. I hope to make a return visit in future.

We stayed at the Greenwich Holiday Inn Express, purely because it was a 10 minute walk from the venue (which meant we wouldn't need to take the car along). We left at 9am this morning, so it was a bit of a slog! The traffic going south seemed much worse than the traffic travelling north, so the fact that we weren't stuck in gridlocked traffic was a bonus.

The drive wasn't too bad, but we're shattered this evening. There was a fair bit of snow around the lake district on the way down, and snow flurries (with the odd "almost a blizzard" situation) at various locations on the way back.

Spring piercing!

The background panel for this card was stamped with one of the new large Hero Arts background stamps (Spring 2008 release). I coloured it with several different colours of chalk ink (yellows, blues and greens) and stamped it on SU Very Vanilla cardstock. The pale turquoise base card is a pre-scored card by Memory Box, with a matching coloured envelope. I punched a scallop of SU Cool Carribean cardstock (a colour which was discontinued in America about a year ago, sadly, and which has never been released in the UK) as it was almost an identical colour match.

The little flower inside the scallop is a portion of the background stamp; I coloured a single flower with an SU Gable Green marker and stamped it on SU Very Vanilla cardstock. I punched a circle with the SU 1 3/8" circle punch. A pale blue Hero Arts self-adhesive gem was added to the centre of the flower and I've added white dots to each of the scallop "petals" with an SU white gel pen. I think the green ruffle ribbon is by May Arts, but I'm not sure as I've had it a long, long time (and thought I should make an effort to use it!). I punched a hole in one petal on the lower left of the scallop and added a little green metal spiral (by Creative Impressions) - it made me think of an earring in a pierced ear!!

Posing Piggies

I managed to take a couple of photos during their cage cleaning event this morning... They were both watching me intently, probably worrying that I'd run away and leave them sitting on the chair!

Good Friday

Just a quick post... a photo of some yellow tulips (in a vase in my kitchen)... and a photo of two Easter cards made very, very quickly this morning.

I picked up a pad of cheap Easter-themed paper last weekend and that was used as the basis for these cards. I've used SU Pixie Pink and Very Vanilla cardstock for the scallops (along with the scallop punch, 1 3/8" circle punch and Old Olive ink). The lemon coloured cards and envelopes are by Memory Box - the colour seems appropriate for Easter cards.

Friend

Another card made with my new Touch of Nature stamp set... and another easy card! I was too tired to make anything complicated tonight.

There's a thin line of Stardust Stickles glitter glue around the Very Vanilla stamped panel.

Products used (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Touch of Nature; Basic Phrases

- ink: Black Stazon; Old Olive

- cardstock: Pumpkin Pie; Very Vanilla; Old Olive

- patterned paper: Fall Flowers designer series paper

- ribbon: black gingham; Old Olive twill

- other: metal spiral

Birthday Wishes

A quick card... I was trying out the fern stamp from my new Stampin' Up! "Touch of Nature" stamp set. I stamped the fern with Certainly Celery then Old Olive. The striped paper is a random scrap (manufacturer unknown) and the green organza ribbon with white dots is by May Arts.

The little paper flower has been coloured with Certainly Celery ink.

I've used the distressing tool from the SU cutter kit on the Bravo Burgundy panel.

Products used (Stampin' Up!):-
- stamps: Touch of Nature; Sincere Salutations
- ink: Certainly Celery; Old Olive
- cardstock: Very Vanilla; Bravo Burgundy; Whisper White

Other: May Arts ribbon; tiny paper flower; self adhesive mini pearl; scrap of patterned paper

Happy Bee-Day & Blue Birds!

Very little free time this evening...

The photo above shows a birthday card I made on Sunday using a couple of old Stampendous stamps that had been languishing unused in a box. I coloured the bee with Stampin' Up! Watercolour Wonder Crayons. The red ink around the stamped piece is chalk ink (Colourbox Lipstick Red). The cardstock is SU Whisper White, with some scraps of patterned paper. The orange ribbon is fabulous - it's part of Bazzill's new range.

The next card is one that I made for a friend who is obsessed with all things bird-related! I couldn't resist this bird paper when I saw it in a craft store on Saturday. The ribbon is stapled to the card and is by Creative Impressions. The button is by Stampin' Up!, as is the linen thread knotted through the button. I love the SU linen thread - I've been using it for all of my buttons since I bought it. I've used the SU Word Window punch (not currently available in the UK) to punch out the "Spring" sentiment.

Scalloped edge!

This card was made predominantly with SU materials, although the card base itself was made from a piece of random "two tone" card which I found on my desk - I'm not sure of the manufacturer, but it seems to look either SU Ruby Red or Really Rust, depending upon the light. The inner portion looks identical to Ruby Red. I think you could use either of those.

The other non-SU item is the scalloped edge along the bottom of the front panel. It was created from a cream (identical to SU Very Vanilla cardstock in colour) piece of Bazzill 12" x 12" scalloping (intending for scrapbooking) chopped to size (approx 5", at a guess, although I haven't measured the card).

To be honest, this card took a ridiculously long time to make - at least 1.5 hours; in the interim, my husband managed to watch the entire "Restless Natives" dvd - and I was embarrassed that the film had finished and I had not finished the card. Perhaps I was staring into space for half of the time?! The only benefit was that whilst I was making the card I was able to listen to the Scottish soundtrack of the film (Big Country - I haven't heard their music in 15 years or more!). The card wasn't difficult to make, it's simply that I was designing it as I went along without a pre-considered game plan - and I (clearly) wasn't working very quickly that evening! My excuse was that I was tired.

The Close to Cocoa panel behind the stamped image has been distressed with the tool from the SU cutter cut. Chocolate Chip ink was smudged over the distressed sections. The stamped image flowers were watercoloured with the Really Rust Watercolour Wonder crayon. I've used some Stickles Stardust glitter glue around the Very Vanilla stamped piece (with some random dots of glitter glue amidst the flowers).

Products (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Simply Said; Be Happy (smile sentiment)

- ink: Black Stazon (flowers); Sage Shadow (smile sentiment); Chocolate Chip

- cardstock: Very Vanilla; Close to Cocoa (the mount behind the stamped image)

- patterned paper strips: SU Fall Flowers designer series paper (dots and diagonal stripes - both sides of one sheet of paper)

- other: Kraft taffeta ribbon; button from Earth Elements and Neutrals set; linen thread; circle punch; large brass eyelet; crop-a-dile; distressing tool from cutter kit

Products (non-SU): Hero Arts lime green self adhesive gem; Bazzill cream scallop; two-tone base card; Stardust Stickles glitter glue

Smile & Laugh

When I finished making this card, I wasn't terribly sure whether or not I liked it... I still can't decide, but thought I'd post it to my blog anyway!

The colours are Bashful Blue and Barely Banana. The "laugh" tag overlaps the front section by 1 cm or so, but lies flush with the rear of the card.

I wheeled the entire front and back of the card with the SU Watercolour Vine wheel and a Bashful Blue ink cartridge. I've used the corner rounder punch to round both the front and the rear corners. The Barely Banana strip of cardstock has been "distressed" on both of the longer edges using the distressing wheel of the SU cutter tool.

The tag shaped image was stamped in Bashful Blue ink on Whisper White cardstock. The "laugh" sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy on top of the pre-stamped Bashful Blue tag shaped image. I did this by using a Night of Navy marker to ink merely the "laugh" portion of the larger stamp from the Be Happy set and I then used the stamp-a-ma-jig to centre it on the Bashful Blue stamped tag piece. I cut around the tag once I'd finished to save trying to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig on such a small piece of cardstock (achievable - but not worth the trouble, in my view!).

The ribbon is non-SU; I think it's by Creative Impressions. I didn't start off with it as my inspiration as I sometimes do... it was a coincidence that it seemed to match!

Products (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Be Happy stamp set; Polka Dot background; Watercolour Vine wheel

- ink: Night of Navy; Bashful Blue

- cardstock: Whisper White; Barely Banana; Night of Navy

- other: scallop punch; 1 3/8 circle punch; white gel pen; flower and simulated pearl from the Pretties kit; corner rounder punch

Boston - scrapbook album

A couple of pages from the album of Boston photos I'm working on at the moment (papers and embellishments are primarily from the Making Memories "Chelsea's Place" range - picked up during my trip to Boston).

The "memories" page is a photo of Ian walking through the centre of Boston clutching some of our shopping bags (!); it's the front page in the album (the label to the left says "Boston Feb '08") and the green/red page is the second page in the album - a photo of Copley Square.

It's an 8 x 8 album, so there isn't room to fit terribly much on each page!

New banner...

My blog banner has been finalised and it's in situ! I love it. Melissa is so talented...

The cow photo was one I took on the Isle of Skye last August. (Yes, I just had to have a cow in there somewhere). The remainder was all Melissa's work!

I was in Stirling last night at a Colin Prior photography seminar, which was brilliant. Colin is an incredibly talented Scottish photographer and he presented a slide show of his "Wild Places" work. I've been out all night tonight at my local scrapbooking club, hence no papercraft posts... sorry! Those are my excuses! More papercraft posts tomorrow.

Blue Bonjour

I made this card last night... I was trying out a new SU vine leaves wheel with Bashful Blue ink. I "wheeled" quite a few pieces of cardstock and blank cards. I love these leaves and they look great in pale blue.

I've added Stickles Stardust glitter glue to each of the scalloped "petals" (as ever!), with some additional Stickles in the centre of/on the leaves of the Carte Postale floral image.

The rear of the card is approximately half an inch wider than the front section. The corners have been rounded. The scalloped circle overlaps the rear and lies flush with the edge of the rear portion.

Stampin' Up Products:-

- stamps: Watercolour Vine wheel stamp; Carte Postale stamp set

- ink: Bashful Blue; Night of Navy

- cardstock: Whisper White; Bashful Blue; Night of Navy

- ribbon: Night of Navy (plus some non-SU May Arts organza dotted white ribbon)

- other: scallop circle punch; 1 1/8" circle punch; 1 3/8" circle punch; "label" from Simply Scrapping hostess set (stamped with "Bonjour" sentiment); corner rounder punch

Brown Paisley

The layout for this card is one I've used before... albeit not with these colours. I like the end product - very subtle, with the Pumpkin Pie ribbon and matching coloured punched circle as the focal points. The fact that SU products are colour co-ordinated makes it easy.

The rear of the card is approximately one centimetre wider than the front panel (I chopped a section off the front panel with my paper trimmer) and the corners are rounded.

Very quick and easy! I made two identical cards in no time at all. I love the SU background stamps... I just stamped straight on to the white card base, which saved time and expense.

Products used (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Paisley background; Circle of Friendship

- ink: Close to Cocoa

- cardstock: Close to Cocoa; Pumpkin Pie; Whisper White

- other: Pumpkin Pie ribbon; scallop circle punch; 1" circle punch; 1 3/8" circle punch; corner rounder punch

Non-SU products: scrap of dark brown paper with pale brown flowers (embossed with scrolls in the Cuttlebug); organza brown ribbon with white dots by May Arts; Stickles glitter glue (on each of the scallop "petals")

Blog Banner etc

If you notice a few changes over the next few days - and a blog banner which keeps changing - it's because I'm doing a bit of a re-design and I've been tinkering with my blog template. The brilliant Melissa Kulesa is re-designing my blog banner for me and I've been trying out a draft this evening...

Melissa's work is fabulous. Have a look at her stamping blog, Stamping Through the Tulips and her design blog, Kulesa Design (by clicking on the hyperlinks).

Lots of Scallops

I had a hard time taking a good photo of this card, not least because the lighting is really bad tonight - very dark. It looks so much better in reality!

The front of the card is approximately an inch narrower than the back... I cut it back and then added circles punched with the Stampin' Up! 3/4" circle punch to give a scalloped effect. Here's how...

First of all, I stuck the punched circles to a strip of Bravo Burgundy cardstock (cut to the length of the front panel). The glue had just been applied and was still wet in this photo, so it looks a bit of a mess (albeit it dries clear and a further piece of cardstock was being stuck over it anyway, so it didn't really matter either way). I used Tombo Multi adhesive to make sure it stayed put. The circles were punched from some kraft-style cardstock (manufacturer unknown), which I had in my scrap card box.

Next, I stuck another identical width piece of Bravo Burgundy cardstock over the inner of the card to cover the circles. This gives a nice tidy finish and also adds some weight to the card to make sure that it stands upright properly even though the front section has been chopped back.

This final photo shows the card lying flat - and gives a better idea of how the scallops look when the card is closed. Continuing with the scallop them, I used the SU scallop punch and Bravo Burgundy cardstock to make a mount for the stamped piece. The stamped piece is the leaves stamp from the SU Carte Postale stamp set; it was stamped with Bravo Burgundy ink on Whisper White cardstock. I've used the white gel pen to add dots around each of the scallop "petals". The corner rounder punch was used on corners of the rear of the card (to give a rounded feel and blend in with the scallops).

The background stamp was supposed to have a slightly distressed look; I didn't want a clean image, as I wanted the leaves in the scallop circle to be the focal point. To create the background, I used a rag to blot off some ink before stamping. (I didn't want to "stamp off" the full image as that would give too pale an impression). The fact that the base card was slightly textured also helped. I've added a piece of SU gingham ribbon and a thin line of Dazzling Diamonds glitter (adhered with a glue pen) down the burgundy cardstock on the right hand side. I've also added some glitter to the leaves within the scallop mounted piece.

Products used (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Carte Postale; matching French Flair background stamp

- ink: Bravo Burgundy

- cardstock: Whisper White and Bravo Burgundy

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

- other: Dazzling Diamonds glitter glue; caramel gingham ribbon; white gel pen

Non-SU products:-

- unknown brand white textured cardstock (for the card base) and kraft cardstock; glue pen

Love Note Thanks!

I love these little Stampin' Up! "love note" cards. The cards I used to make this set of three were the Very Vanilla love notes. (And, yes, I made three... following on the success of last week's "I made two of the same card" event... this could become a habit!).

The little flower stamp was stamped with Black Stazon and watercoloured with SU Watercolour Wonder crayons. The matching envelopes were stamped with the scroll from the stamp set using Baroque Burgundy.

Products (all Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Doodle That; Sincere Salutations

- ink: Black Stazon (flower); Baroque Burgundy (Sentiment)

- cardstock: Very Vanilla "love note" cards and envelopes; Whisper White; Baroque Burgundy

- patterned paper: Rose Red Designer Series patterned paper (thin strip of 1cm width)

- other: silver eyelet (set with crop-a-dile); pink gingham ribbon; Watercolour Wonder Crayons; small tag punch; large tag punch

60

A quick 60th Birthday card made for a man... no "frilly" bits!

The background was made using the SU "Sanded" background stamp with two colours of ink (Brocade Blue and Certainly Celery) and the word stamp is from the SU Wonderful Words set and was stamped with Black Stazon.

The strip of blue cardstock is also Brocade Blue and the cardstock used for the circle punched section which has the "60" is Sage Shadow. I punched the numbers and the scallop using Quickutz dies. The striped paper was a tiny scrap from my desk. The ribbon is SU black gingham and I've used Stardust Stickles around the circle and the Brocade Blue strip.

Tulip

I like this card... nice and bright!

The lime green card blank and envelope are by Memory Box... I picked them up whilst in America. The button is a random button from one of my button jars; I'm not sure where it came from.

I should probably have used Rose Red and Certainly Celery markers to ink the tulip stamp... it would have been a direct match to the Cutie Pie paper if I'd done so! I stamped the tulip ages ago, though, so just wanted to use what I'd pre-prepared.

There's a thin line of glitter along the bottom of edge of the patterned paper and some glitter on the tulip (following the pattern - three dots - on the body of the flower).

Products (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Wonderful Words; Spring Fling (tulip)

- markers: Garden Green and Ruby Red (to colour the tulip)

- ink: Black Stazon

- patterned paper: Cutie Pie Designer Series paper

- cardstock: Bashful Blue (thin strip above the patterned paper)

- other: black gingham ribbon; Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Tired

I'm really, really tired tonight... not sure why. I can't be imaginging it, though - everyone says I look knackered (how nice of them!). Nevertheless, I've managed to make a couple of half decent cards (and one appallingly bad one - which I won't post).

The card above was made with a Stampin' Up! set which is not currently available in the UK; I hope it appears in our next catalogue. The patterned paper is by Basic Grey, the metallic green linen textured card is by DCWV and the green card blank and matching envelope (the interior is white) are by Hero Arts. The leafy stamp was stamped and coloured with SU Old Olive ink on Whisper White cardstock. The "embrace life" stamp was also stamped with Old Olive ink, this time on some kraft card. I've inked around the Whisper White panel with some olive green chalk ink and I've added four green self adhesive gems and two SU Old Olive brads. Simple - but I like the effect.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Lavender Stamper and tasked with answering some questions...

1. WHAT WERE YOU DOING 10 YEARS AGO?
Getting ready to move to London to work/live. (I've long since moved back).

2. WHAT WERE YOU DOING 1 YEAR AGO?
Awaiting my Dad's post mortem result (brain haemorrhage; it was very sudden) and sorting things out for the funeral. The worst few weeks of my life.

3. NAME YOUR 5 FAVOURITE SNACKS?
Pizza, strawberries, cherry scones, tangerines and Options 40 calorie hot chocolate sachets!

4. NAME 5 THINGS YOU WOULD DO IF YOU WERE A MILLIONAIRE?
Work less; spend more; travel more; give money to others/charity; be less grumpy (in no particular order).

5. NAME 5 THINGS YOU LIKE DOING?
Making cards and scrapbooking; travelling; feeding treats to my guinea pigs and rabbit; reading; seeing my friends. I don't have enough time to do any of them.

6. NAME 5 THINGS YOU WOULD NEVER WEAR AGAIN
Never say never! (Hot pants are not a good look, though; ra ra skirts and leg warmers are also pretty grim).

7. NAME YOUR 5 FAVOURITE TOYS!
Cuttlebug; Quickutz Revolution; iPod; Canon DSLR camera; anything computer-related.

8. YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE
"Life's too short" (meaning many things, but particularly "don't waste time") or almost any line from the "Time" song by Pink Floyd.

I've been told part of the deal is tagging five more people...

- Jimmi: http://thestampingshopper.blogspot.com/
- Shauna: http://stampingly.blogspot.com/
- Dawn: http://tartanstamper.blogspot.com/
- Melissa: http://www.stampingthroughthetulips.blogspot.com/
- Jenny: http://stampingmoments.blogspot.com/

(ps - no requirement to waste time answering it a second time if you've already given it a bash and I've missed your post!).

Spring?

It doesn't feel like Spring... it snowed overnight on Sunday night and almost all day Monday... and there was thick sheet ice (and frozen snow!) everywhere this morning. I made a couple of "Spring" cards at the weekend as thank you cards. This is the first time I've ever made two of the same card! I enjoyed making the first one so much that I made a second one (and I've realised that if I need to make two semi-decent looking cards quickly the only way to do that is to make a duplicate or duplicates!).

The flower stamp is from Penny Black and the little green patterned notecards and white card with orange ric rac print are by A-Muse - all picked up during my trip to Boston. I coloured the flowers with Stampin' Up! re-inkers. The ribbon is Stampin' Up! moss gingham. The "Spring" sentiment is part of an old (discontinued) Hero Arts stamp - I inked just one word from the stamp using an SU Ruby Red marker. I punched the eyelet hole and set the orange eyelet using my crop-o-dile.

You Mean Everything

A little card made with two of the stamps from the "Always" stamp set from Stampin' Up! (not currently available in the UK; a friend gave me a set as a gift whilst I was in Boston a few weeks ago - lucky me!).

The pale blue patterned blank card used for the card base is by A-Muse. The A-Muse cards come in packs of ten... and I picked up several packs in Ink About It whilst I was in Massachusetts. I'd wanted to get my hands on some A-Muse blank cards for ages - and they are just as good as I thought they would be. The only thing which is a bit odd is that they come with A2 rectangular envelopes, notwithstanding that the cards are square.

The metallic green textured card was a scrap from my scrap paper box. I think it might be from a textured block of card by DCWV. The "fern" stamp was stamped with SU Old Olive ink on SU Whisper White cardstock... the first impression was made with fresh ink and the second paler image was made with whatever was left on the stamp. I've stamped the same double image on the envelope as a finishing touch.

I used my crop-o-dile to make the eyelet hole and set the white eyelet. The ribbon is chocolate brown (notwithstanding that it almost looks black in the photo!) with cream stitching and it's by Creative Impressions.

I'm really pleased with the simplicity of this little card! It's a thank you card for my husband, so I wanted it to look as masculine as possible (hence no glitter nor scallops...).

Dad

In memory of my Dad, who died on 3rd March 2007.

Happy Mother's Day!

My "theme" for this card was intended to revolve around flowers and SU Rose Red... as you can see, there are plenty of flowers!

The ribbon was a scrap of ribbon which came free with a magazine some time ago and I was trying to find something to do with it (other than throwing it in the bin!). It's close in colour to Rose Red. It's a bit rigid and the quality isn't great, but it looks reasonable, I suppose. It was very difficult to knot because of the poor quality. I much prefer SU ribbon (or May Arts or Creative Impressions ribbon, for that matter).

The flowers are from the Happy Day set and I've stamped them in Black Stazon, coloured them with Rose Red ink (from the ink pad lid) and cut them out. They're adhered with 3D foam pads and I've used Dazzling Diamonds glitter for the centres. The piece of SU Bashful Blue card has been pierced with a paper piercer and was to give some contrast. The orange printed paper is the same colour as SU Only Orange; it was an old scrap of MOD paper (several years old!) which I was also trying to use up.

Quick and easy.

Happy Mother's Day, mum!

Products used (Stampin' Up!):-

- stamps: Happy Day Simply Sent set; Wonderful Words

- ink: Black Stazon; Rose Red

- cardstock: Rose Red; Basheful Blue

- other: Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Non-SU: scrap of pink and white striped ribbon; scrap of orange paper with white circle print; square white blank card

Happy Day & Cutie Pie

As promised, here's another card with the same layout as that used for the card in Friday's post. Again, it uses the Happy Day stamp set. The patterned paper used for this one is SU Cutie Pie designer series paper. The cardstock used to mount the stamped image is Certainly Celery and the "Happy Day" sentiment was stamped with Rose Red.

I used the large flower and the same sentiment to stamp a matching envelope with Rose Red ink. Quick and easy! The only vaguely time-consuming part was watercolouring the flower trio image in matching inks. You could watercolour a whole batch at once (as I did), which saves some time.

March Stampin' Up! Promotion

Tempus fugit... time flies!

It's now a new month... and Stampin' Up! has launched a new promotion. Host a £350 workshop between 1st and 31st March 2008 and earn an EXTRA £25 in hostess benefits!

For example, hostesses of workshops of £350 - £399 will receive £65 of free hostess merchandise of their choice from the current catalogue, comprising the standard £40 of free merchandise plus an additional promotional sum of £25. This offer is valid during the month of March only, so be quick off the mark and book a slot! In addition, you'll still qualify for your Hostess stamp or scrapping set(s), the Level (1, 2 or 3) and quantity of which will be based upon the total of the workshop in the usual way.

Click here to see a copy of the SU promotional leaflet for more information.

Please contact me to discuss hosting a workshop!