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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".