Sell Out News

Good evening,

I have news of the first sell out items from the retired list

Sense of time stamp set
2010-2012 in colour re-inkers
Riding Hood red 12x12 cardstock
Jumbo eyelets, both colourways
Star punch

We are only days into the sale and already having sell-outs, I'm not surprised about the Sense of Time set at all.

On to a card I have made using a set that will be staying out in the new catalogue, Just Believe,

Although this wonderful stamp set is staying with us, unfortunately the beautiful Springtime Vintage DSP is not :(

See you soon, xx

Shabby Tearoom Mojo

Hello crafty people,

I hope that you didn't get too wet today, looks like we're set for more rain this week, perfect weather for crafting but so great for photography.

Todays' card is a combination of a wonderful sketch courtesy of Mojo Monday and a gorgeous colour/theme challenge from The Shabby Tearoom. Which is 'sweet days of summer' to include pink, peach, green, neutrals, and handmade flowers.

I have chosen to use patterned papers from the Springtime Vintage pack, is it contains the most gorgeous floral papers in beautiful shades of pinks and greens.

It's not an excuse but as I said the weather is not great for taking photos, I made this card yesterday afternoon but by the time I had finshed it it was too dark to photograph it and I had to leave at 7am this morning and it was raining so the greens haven't turned out very well, all things considered it doesn't look too bad. I really need a fancy light box, but think of the stamps, paper and ribbon I could buy?!

I really am a hopeless case! Hope you have a creative week, xx

Viva La Verve Marathon

Hello again,

If you checked my blog this morning you will know that I have discovered (thanks Sian) the Viva La Verve sketch challenge, each Friday a new sketch is released, and let me tell you they are gorgeous, so much so that I have decided to go back and attempt all of this months.

So lets start with the first (seems logical to me) I have teamed week 1's sketch with the colour combo from the Play Date Cafe, I apologise for the poor quality of the photo, the colours are much better IRL, honest!

I really liked this sketch, it's simple but uses a number of layers so great for using scraps or multiple DSP, this will definitely be getting used again. I think this colour combo deserves another go too I think maybe my proportions are off. Here is my card,

The colours I've used are Night of Navy, Rose Red (which is actually pink) and Wild Wasabi, may have to take another picture of this one and change it. I die cut two butterflies one in the Rose Red CS, and one off vellum, which I embossed.

I'd also like to enter this one for the Less is More challenge which this week is 'things that move', I just hope this card is CAS enough to be considered, it is definitely not as embellished as my usual style!

Pop back later for the next installment, xx

Simply Stampin' sketch week

Hiya,

Last week I was uploading my Simply Stampin' challenge entry at the very last minute and I'm not quite sure I made it in time. So this week I wanted to make sure that I wasn't trying to get it on in the last 10 mins before closing.

Sketch week is here again, and here is the sketch we've been set to work with,

I love that they've kept it simple so it gives a lot of scope to do your own thing with.

I decided that I wasn't using my Springtime Vintage DSP nearly enough so I thought I would choose a paper and work my colour scheme around it.

I have used the ruffled ribbon as one of my elements (not sure if I like it still though, maybe needs a little tweaking) and an embossed butterfly for the other, whilst making use of my eyelet border punch for the horizontal layers.

I love the Curly Cute greeting set, so went with Happy Birthday for my greeting. I love that SU! products all colour co-ordinate it made it very easy to put out the same colours to layer up with and ribbon matching too.

I hope the girls like my entry and that you do to.

Happy stampin' xx

So Many Birthdays!

Hello!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the bank holiday weekend!

I have so many birthdays this month it is unbelieveable! Two people at work are the big 50 next week (you know who you are!), two of my sister's birthdays are Thursday and Friday, I have several orders for birthday cards including the dreaded men's cards, as well as father's day. Thank god for challenges to inspire me!

This card is for one of the 50th birthdays next week, I don't always like to put ages on the cards, so I haven't with either of these. I have used the Sweet Sunday sketch for my layout inspiration,

and the colour pallette from CR84FN challenge blog, this is a new one for me but I liked the inspiration photograph, so I'm sure this will become one of my regulars.

I have chosen to use Baja breeze, So Saffron, and Crumb Cake (formally known as Kraft) I thought that it would be hard to make these colour's feminine but blue is Karen's favourite colour so I thought this pallette would be perfect for her.

I really like the Springtime Vintage DSP which just so happens to but in the same colours, so it all worked out great! The Saffrom backing paper is from the Nursery suite DSP, so it just goes to show that these papers are not just for baby cards they co-ordinate well with other paper packs too.

I will also be entering this card into the Simply Stampin' challenge which this week is Floral Frenzy, if you look closely you'll see that not only have I used a floral backing paper, but I have stamped a cute floral image from the Timy Tags set around the 'K', as well as making my own flower from the scallop circle punch.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Stampin' Celebration Spring

Well hello again,

This weekend seems to have gone on forever, last night I was lying on the sofa watching telly thinking that it was Monday and that I had work today when my boyfriend reminded me that it was Sunday and we still had another day off! Not that I'm complaining as it gave me enough time to finish off a card I started yesterday for a challenge I haven't entered before called Stampin' Celebration. The theme this week is spring so I thought that I'd use  my Growing Green set, and really had to resist the urge to put some butterflies on it, for those of you who don't know, last week I set myself the challenge of using all of my stamp sets as I seem to use the same favourites all the time.

Here is the inspiration collage for this weeks challenge

I wanted to try a different style of card that is new to me, which is why it has taken so long to finish it. These shutter cards will definitely have to only be for very special occasions.

Look to perfect little bows! I'm so proud of myself.
I hope the ladies over at Stampin' Celebration like my effort.

CASE'd myself

Hello,

Another beautiful day here. It's weird to think that the weekends are longer than the working week this week!

Today's card is CASE'd from my triple combo earlier this weekend. My sister had asked me to make to card for 'Rosalind' and I liked the thought of the butterflies fluttering through grasses, that I had done in this card so I thought that I would use the same concept but use different colours this time.

I've also tried to be brave and use colours out of my comfort zone that I would not usually use, orange and yellow both scare me!
I'm pleased with the result, although getting the name central was very tricky! Thank god for my Stamp-a-ma-jig, that's all I can say!

The recipe for today's card
Stamps, Broadsheet alphabet, pocket silhouettes
Paper, Springtime Vintage DSP, Certainly celery CS, Very vanilla CS, Pumpkin pie CS
Ink, Certainly celery, More mustard, Old olive
Accessories, Beautiful wings embosslits, sponge dauber

Enjoy the last of the holiday
xx

Sweet Sunday

Happy Easter!

I have not had one single egg, what a good girl I'm being, or maybe it's because I'm so hot that the last thing I want is chocolate.

As it's Sunday it would be rude not to check out the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge to see what this weeks sketch is,

I wanted to use my new Springtime Vintage paper pack for this card, it was so hard which to choose that I may have to make another to satisfy my vintage cravings! I teamed these gorgeous papers with the new Four Frames stamp set, these two seem to go together perfectly.

Here's my recipe
Stamps, Four Frames, Vintage labels SAB (retired)
Paper, Springtime Vintage DSP, Certainly celery CS, Crumb Cake CS
Ink, Rich Razzleberry, Certainly celery
Accessories, Certainly celery taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, sponge dauber, stamp-a-ma-jig

Enjoy the sunshine!
xx

Mojo Monday...... on a Friday!

Hey!

Well as I mentioned earlier this week I'm really enjoying challenge blogs at the moment, (especially the Stampin up challenge blog Simply Stampin' one of the DT Sharon is doing a draw for the super cute Owl Punch!! I'd still really love to hear some other challenge blog suggestions, if you know any) I find sketches so inspirational, and while I was looking at some other blogs I stumbled across Mojo Monday. As the title suggests each Monday there is a new sketch to get your crafty mojo going, and some days I'm really in need of some help along the way!

Here is the sketch for this week

I wasn't sure about the twine across the top so I left it out but I think I may have needed it to balance out the card, what do you think?

I've used loads of my new goodies for this one, including, the Daisies die cut, Square lattice embossing folder, seam binding ribbon, and the Springtime vintage DSP.

I also did a bit of water colouring with my blender pen, I'm really pleased with how this turned out, here's a close up

I've used Pink Pirouette, for the embossing and water colouring layer, but again with my amazing photography skills it looks more like white, but I'm still pleased with the results.
I hope over at Mojo Monday, they like my first attempt at their challenge. This sketch had a lot of detail which is what I tend to go for in my cards, so it was right up my street!

Bye for now, two more of my favourite challenges are tomorrow see hopefully see you back here then with some more cards. xx

more new products!!

Hello!

I was awake half the night last night worrying about my first real Stampin' up party as a demo. It dawned on me at 4am that I was completely unprepared, and the party is Wednesday, eek!

I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but then the mini came along and changed my mind several times when I was deciding what set to buy. I've decided that my make and takes will be a bookmark and a card,(I'll post these Thursday in case any of the girls check my blog before then), I'm still getting all my kit together and I don't have full packs of paper yet, so this morning panic set in as I tried to figure out what I had enough of to make the projects with.

I think that I'm getting there now, but I need to put some samples together quickly for the table, so my guests can have a look while waiting for everyone to arrive.

Here's one of the cards that I put together this afternoon, what do you think?

It uses a few new products, the Strength and hope stamp set, this set is not only beautiful but when you buy it you are doing your bit for charity as Stampin' up donate £1 every time a set is bought. I've also used the gorgeous new seam binding ribbon, which I've ruffled, and the Springtime Vintage papers, also of course I've used the Beautiful Wings embosslits die, I can't seem to make anything without adding a tiny butterfly to it!

Here's the recipe
Stamps, Strength and Hope,
Paper, Baja breeze CS, Certainly celery CS, Crumb cake CS, Very vanilla CS, Springtime Vintage paper pack
Ink, Pear Pizazz,
Accessories, square punch, scallop square punch, scallop trim border punch, seam binding pear pizazz ribbon, Beautiful wings embosslits die.

I hope everything goes ok Wednesday, the girlies will have to be gentle with me!! Wish me luck xx