Simply Stampin Colour Challenge

Good morning,

It's time for another challenge over at Simply Stampin' and this week it's time for a colour challenge, I hope you like these bright and cheerful colours we've chosen for you

I was asked to make a card for a little boy turning 1! So I thought that these colours would be perfect I pulled out my Fox and Friends (my 'go to' set for younger children) and got to work with the colours, what do you think?

I paired the stamps with button die-cut using the Sweet Buttons embosslits die, it's so good, looks just like buttons but without the weight!

I hope that this has inspired you to pull out these colours and see what you can do!

Happy stampin', xx

French Foliage & Lovely As A Tree

Good morning,

I wanted to share a card with you, as I have been MIA this week, (covering holiday at work, really does interfere with crafting!) I was asked to make this card at the beginning of the week and I was stuck for ideas so I pulled out the trusty French Foliage and set to work making a background, the only request for this card was that it was blue. Now I know leaves aren't blue, but I really like how this one turned out!!

The only non-blue colour I used was Sahara Sand, what do you think? I have sneaked in a tiny but of ribbon but apart from that completely suitable for a man, right?

Happy stampin', xx

It's Sketch Time

Good morning,

It's Saturday morning again and this week over at Simply Stampin we have another fab sketch challenge for you to join in with.

For my card this week I have used a Simply Scrappin' kit, they don't have to be just used for scrapbook layouts, you can use them in your other projects too! If you're thinking that isn't in my catalogue go get it and turn to pages 100-101 there are 4 to choose from, but I have used Country Club.

I have teamed my scrappin' kit with the Sail Away a la carte stamp, and I've paper pieced the sails with the same paper as the background. All the extra elements on the card (except the jumbo eyelets) are from the scrappin' kit!

If you haven't joined in with the challenge yet, why not give it a try with week, and don't forget you don't have to have a blog to enter just email your entry to the challenge email address! I'd love to see what you can do with the sketch!

Happy stampin'

Need For Speed!

Good morning,

Today I'm sharing a card for a young man who is mad about cars!! I don't have the Need for speed stamp set (yet! It's now at the top of my NEED list!) but a fellow Simply Stamper Kirei was kind enough to share her set with me (thanks Kirei), I knew the car image would be perfect for Stan!

I decided to go for 3 cars, why have one when you can have 3? The colours I have used are Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, and Pacific Point, I used the same three colours with my spritzer tool, to make the background I wanted it to look like graffiti, it kinda worked, I think.

I hope Stan likes the card and has a wonderful birthday!!

Just Can't Let Go?

Hiya,

I don't know about you but even when they retire there are just some stamp sets that I just can't part with and Loads of Love is one of them! I really love this little pick up truck, plus it's great for masculine cards too!

I took the colour combo from an old Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge, i ran a piece of Soft Suede CS through my Big Shot with the polka dots folder to echo the patterned paper  I chose and paired it with some DSP from the Big Top papers.

I hope that someone brings me a pick-up full of pressies on my birthday!! xx

Goal!!

Good morning,

I'm sharing another masculine card today, this one uses the Goal stamp set, I have used it here for backgrounds as well as the main focus.

I stamped the football in black onto the black CS (sorry I don't think you can see it in this photo), and the 'goal' greeting along the white section, and a strip of Pacific Point. I then stamped and popped up three footballs and added the greeting at an angle. Little tip, make sure you check with team the guy supports before you make up your card, I nearly went for red, which apparently wouldn't have been good, who knew?!

Happy Stampin', xx

Simply Soft Mother's Day

Good morning,

Today I am sharing a card that I was asked to make for my friend to give to her mum from her children. I went looking for inspiration on the internet, and found a gorgeous landscape card using this set (sorry I can't find the original, if you  know who made it please leave a comment) so I changed the orientation and got stamping.

I love this flower head image, but it was a little bit of a pain to colour in all the sections with a white gel pen. I also added a few touches of shimmer paint, but I don't think you can see them in this picture, do you see the rough edge of the oval? I ran my scissors along the edge to get this rough and ready feel.

Hope you like it, I'll have another card to share with you tomorrow, xx

Masculine Monday

Good morning,

I thought this week I would share some of the cards I made last Sunday, I had another crafting madness day, or as my friend Ruth would say a Rubber Rapture day!

Today's card uses the Well Worn DSP, which is just fab for men's cards

I used the scallop circle die, and circles die, layering them over each other to cut out the centres. The background is also spritzed with chocolate chip to give texture, it's simple but great to show off all the different DSP in the collection.

Hope you'll pop back soon, xx

Happy Mother's Day!

Good evening,

On Friday, I shared some cards that my friend Nettie made (you can see the post here), and I really liked the layout of one of them especially so I decided to CASE it for my mum's mothers day card. I saw her this morning to give her the card so I know it's safe to show you now.

I went with the neutral Mocha Morning DSP, it's my mums favourite so I knew I was onto a winner with this one. I have used all the same elements as Nettie did in her original card expect I have stamped that in Chocolate Chip. I added Champagne shimmer paint to the little leaves die cuts, and another of the Antique tags.I also coloured some pearls with a gold pen and added them to the stamped image.

I was very glad when my mum opened her card and smiled, it's the best feeling when you're giving a card, and I'm happy to report that Julie my boyfriend's mum also loved her card (you can see it here).

Happy mother's day!! xx

Simply Stampin' Theme Week

Good morning crafters,

You all did such a good job with those colours last week, that this week we thought you needed a little more of a challenge, so this weeks Simply Stampin theme is Totally Tags.Whether you use them on a card, scrapbook page, or you just want to make up a stash of them we want to see multiple tags!

I decided to make a tag card, the tags are tucked into a pocket and can be re-used, as a tag or a bookmark.

This card is for my boyfriends mum for Mother's day, so I wanted to make it special, I've added all my favourite things, ribbon, crochet trim, paper flower, antique brad, and if you look closely you'll spot a cute little Antique Tag dangling from the flower, there are so sweet, and I think they'll be popping up a lot in the future!

I don't think you can see but the centre of the flower (made with the scallop circle punch) is an Antique Brad, here is a close up of the tags,

I have left the other side blank so they can re-used if Julie wants too.

If you need more inspiration for your take on the challenge then head over and see what the rest of the team has come up with, xx

Cards By Nettie

Hiya!

Don't you think that we are our own worst critic? My friend Nettie makes really pretty cards, this morning I opened my emails and found she had sent me some photos of a few she had made, they are beautiful, so I thought I'd share them with you, (I'll tell her when this is posted so she can't try and stop me) I'm such a bad friend!!

So first up is a patchwork card, I love this style of card, and they are great for using up those little scraps of paper that you can't possibly throw away.

Next we have a card that I think I'm right in saying is made using the bird punch,

Don't you just love the way that the flowers are mirroring each other.

Lastly, and this is my personal favourite so don't be surprised if you see this one CASE'd here in the not to distant future, is a fab card made using the SAB DSP

See what I mean? simple but very pretty!!

If you like these cards as much as I do, please leave a comment and I'll pass them onto Nettie, xx

Paper Piecing with Love Letters

Hiya!!

Well this  is the last of the cards I made the weekend before last, however I do have another stack of cards to share with you from last weekend, including a couple of men's cards, shock horror!!

This final card again uses some retired DSP, called Love Letter, I have mixed this with the beautiful rose from the Happiness Shared stamp set.

I always love the combo of red, black and cream, so these papers were always dear to me, and I had a little left over from last year, so I thought why not?!
For the rose I stamped the image onto the Vanilla CS, then again onto the Love Letter DSP and some Old Olive DSP, cut out the sections and glued them to the Vanilla piece, this is a really great way of adding colour, I left some of the sections uncoloured as I didn't want to over do it. Have you tried this technique before? If not give it a go, it's so easy!

See you again soon, and don't forget there's still time to enter yourself for the Simply Stampin Design Team call! xx

Use It Up

Hello again,

Have you been following my craft day progress along the week? Well if you have, the card I have to share with you today is the last of the batch I was asked to make for Maddy. This card was made mainly using retired products, that I can't bear to let go of. The Cheers To You set was always a good to of mine for a good cocktail card and was also fab for men's cards.

The DSP is all retired I'm afraid but if you're anything like me you'll have loads of retired products that still need using, so thats what I'm trying to do, don't worry I'm not doing anything silly like vowing not to buy any new goodies until I've used all my retired products, I don't think I would last more than a month, but it's good to use what you have sometimes, especially when it's as pretty as these papers are!!

I can't remember the name of these one's (so if you know please leave a comment) but I was asked to make a purple and green card so these were just perfect! I broke out my aqua painter  for the cocktails and bar they are standing on, and I couldn't resist adding a little glitter! I think from now on all martini's should be served with glitter olives!

I hope you have enjoyed the week so far, I have one more card to share with you tomorrow, xx

Cupcakes For Maddy

Hello stampers,

If you saw my post on Sunday then you will already know that I was asked to make several cards for Maddy's 18th birthday last week. Today I'm sharing another one of these cards with you. I have mixed two DSP sets for this card, Everyday Enchantment and Spice Cake.

There are quite a few layers to this card, I started with Spice Cake paper in the background, I love the shape of the Top Note die, so I cut one in the retired Choc Chip DSP, cut it in half and placed it behind the central panels, next another layer of Spice Cake in the gorgeous Pool Party (I love this colour!!) on top of that is a strip of Everyday Enchantment. I couldn't resist adding some satin ribbon and a bow! I took the colours for the cupcakes from the DSP I'd used, so simple to make with a cupcake builder punch.

I'll have another card to show you tomorrow, hope to see you then, plus don't forget to check out this weeks Simply Stampin challenge, and Design Team call!! xx

Everyday Enchantment Coral Combo

Good morning,

As promised I'm back to share another card with you, this time I'm back to the gorgeous Sale-a-bration papers,  I've teamed Calypso Coral with Poppy Parade, I know! I would never have put red and coral together but thats the fab thing about Stampin' up! the DSP colours are already matched up so you can pull colours from them to give you colour combos that really blend well.

I have used the tiny butterfly from the Elementary Elegance set on the sentiment panel, again SU! have been really clever, the images from this stamp set echo the images on the DSP. I made another flower for this card, this time I used the scallop circle punch, and can you spot the glimmer brad in the centre? These are so sparkly and yummy, I couldn't resist sneaking one in there!

Well I'm on a roll now so tomorrow I'm hoping to have another card to share, I'd love you to pop back and see! xx

Concord Crush Aviary

Good morning,

I thought I would share another of the cards I made last Sunday before I start on today's craft marathon, I was asked to make several cards for the same person, I always find this more challenging, so here is the first of a series of cards I made for Maddy who turned 18 on Friday!

I started by making the background paper, I stamped the various birdcages in different directions using my stamp-a-ma-jig to get them placed correctly, them I used my spritzing tool to give some texture (if you click on the photo you should be able to see this better) I sponged the edges before mounting onto Concord Crush CS, I used a piece of retired DSP for the stripe in the middle called Lap of Luxury (I'm trying to use up some of my beloved retired stack of DSP's!) I added three cages with birds for my focal point, popping up the central cage on dimensionals, I love the little owl, he's so sweet!!

I couldn't help myself, when I cut out the sentiment I had to add a couple of birdies here to.

Pop back tomorrow for the next instalment of last weekends crafty day, xx

Simply Stampin' Colour Challenge

Good morning crafters!!!

I like to start by letting you know that we are currently recruiting for the Simply Stampin' design team, we are looking for people with all different styles and abilities to join the team, so why not give it a shot? I'd love to see what you create with our inspiration photo!

So onto this weeks challenge, it's a colour combo, which I think would be great for a men's card or for a woman, very versatile!

I decided to go down the masculine route, here's what I came up with

I took a happy birthday sentiment from the Delightful Dozen set, and used my markers to colour the sentiment in the three challenge colours, I used the polka dot embossing folder to give texture to a Baja Breeze circle, and used a Poppy Parade piece of DSP from the Just Add Cake selection. finished off with twine, and two stars cut and layered on top of each other. Lastly I sponged around the edge of the entire card using Poppy Parade.

I hope you'll join in with these bright and cheery colours, and I love to see you join in the Design Team call too!!

Happy crafting, xx

Sale-a-bration DSP

Good afternoon,

I wanted to share with you some of the cards that I made last weekend, I had a bit of a marathon craft day, I started around 11am and didn't finish until 10pm, I managed to get 6 commissioned cards done, but I still have another 6 commissioned cards this weekend plus 2 mother's day cards, one for my mum and one for my boyfriends mum.

So here is one of the cards that I made during my craft-crazy day!

I have used a selection of sale-a-bration papers, I really love the way these papers co-ordinate together, and I have used a new punch (to me) that I really added to my collection, the fancy flower, I punched 3 flowers scrunched and un-scrunched several times until the paper started to separate, I carefully pulled them apart, off set them punched a hole through the middle and added an antique brad, if you look closely you should be able to see it.

Pop back tomorrow to see the next Simply Stampin' challenge, plus we also have a Design Team call on at the moment, so why not try out?!

Happy crafting, xx

Simply Stampin' Sketch Challenge

Good morning stampers,

Have you been wondering what the new features I mentioned last week were?? Well you may wonder no longer, the first of the new features starts today!!! Simply Stampin' will be joined the first Saturday of each month by a special 'guest' design team member and the very first 'guest' is none other than the amazing Monica Gale!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this fabulous crafter!

As I mentioned in the title, it's sketch week so grab your supplies and give it a go!

Here's a sneaky peek, of Monica's card

If you want to see her beautiful card in full you'll have to pop over to the challenge and take a look.

Now onto my card, I decided to rotate the sketch 180 degrees and in the end I also decided not to add a sentiment, it's quite a versatile card so I didn't want to add the sentiment just yet.

I've made a punch art vase full of tulips using my Ornament punch for the vase, and my Bird punch for the stems and flowers (it's the birds wing!) the DSP is from Nursery Nest, and I paired it with Perfect Plum CS.

Now don't forget to go over to the challenge to check out Monica and the rest of the Design Teams projects, and I hope we have inspired you to give the sketch a go.

Happy stamping, xx

Happy Birthday Seryn

Good Morning,

Today, my niece Seryn turns 5! So I had to make her a special birthday card, when I saw a cascading card on the web I knew it would be perfect, so I set to work, there was a lot of cutting out for this card, but I feel like it was worth it for the finished result, and I hope Seryn likes it too!

Happy birthday sweetie! xx