Less is more colour challenge

My second post today I'm on a challenge roll!

This card is for the Less is More, touch of red colour challenge.
I'm still getting used to this challenge, less is more definitely doesn't come naturally to me, but I'm having fun trying it out.

Here is my entry for this week

Again it uses the Beautiful Wings embosslits die, I really love the dimension that you get with this piece of kit.
As I mentioned I Find Less is more quite challenging, once I had finished this card, I wasn't completely happy with it is I went back and added a little more, I'm not sure if it would still qualify now but I'm happier with it this way.

What do you think? There is still quite a lot of white space so fingers crossed it's still ok for the challenge.

Here's the recipe

Stamps, Friendly Words Jumbo wheel, Because I care,

Paper, Basic black CS, Real red CS, shimmery white CS

Ink, Basic black

Accessories, Beautiful wings embosslits die, rhinestones

Enjoy the rest of the weekend xx

Simply Stampin' challenge 1

Good Morning!

Happy Mother's day!!

It's a bit grey here, so it's the perfect excuse to shut yourself away and lose yourself in a bit of crafting.
I never need an excuse to get a bit crafty, I like to think of Sunday's as my craft day. At the moment I seem to have more cards to make than Sunday's to make them in, but never fear, I've got next week off work, so I can get crafty then, I also have my first real workshop this Wednesday! Wish me luck, I'm a little bit nervous, but it's with friends so I'm sure they'll be gentle with me.

I was getting a bit bored of my blog background so I decided it was time for a change. What do you think?
It took a bit of jigging around but I'm quite happy with it.

Now onto a card, I was looking through my favourites (all other crafty blogs, hee hee) and stumbled across a link for a new challenge blog called Simply Stampin'. As I still needed to make my boyfriend's mum a Mothers day card I thought I'd give the sketch challenge a go.



This card uses a brand new product from the mini the gorgeous Beautiful Wings Embosslit, it's great value at just £10.50, this little beauty not only cuts out the cutest little butterflies but it embosses them at the same time!! I've teamed them with the Elegant soiree papers, love these, they are all my favourites colours in one pretty pack.

Here's the recipe
Stamps, Occasional greetings
Papers, Chocolate chip CS, Marina mist CS, Elegant soiree paper pack
Ink, Chocolate chip
Accessories, Beautiful wings Embosslits, rhinestones, Marina mist satin ribbon, scallop circle punch, scallop trim border punch, white gel pen.

Don't forget if you place an order with me before 7th April you'll get 10% off so you could get your hands on these gorgeous butterflies for just £9.45!

Happy stampin'

THE MINI IS HERE!! Plus 10% discount offer

 Well good morning!

It feels like I've been waiting for today to come forever, I'm so excited to share the new mini catalogue with you, that I'm offering a 10% discount on orders placed with me during the first week of the mini catalogue launch, so just email me a place an order before 7th April. This can be products from the main catalogue and mini catalogue.

Click on the link on the right hand side to view the mini, or if you would like your very own copy email me. and I'll send one out to you!

And guess what everyone, the BIG SHOT has landed. Stampin up has teamed up with Sizzix to bring us the big shot, and you know what that means, extra special Stampin' up exclusive dies!! I am beyond excited about this product.

I tried not to get carried away with the products I ordered straight away, a girl has to have things to look forward to so there are plenty of goodies that I will be wanting to get my hands on, but I really should show you a card that I have made with the goodies I've had a little while now.

This set is called Sew Lovely, it features a dress makers stand, cotton reels, pin cushion, tape measure, sewing machine, and a gorgeous frame. I also got the co-ordinating paper pack to go with it.

This card is for Pauline who I job share with at work, her birthday is today so happy birthday Pauline!! I hope that she likes this card, she makes her own home decor pieces, so I knew who I wanted to use this set for straight away. I've been playing along with the Less is More blog, and this card fits that same theme, don't you just love the little buttons?!

I will be using this set in my next party, so if you're coming you'll know what to expect!!

The recipe for today's card is
Stamps, Sew Lovely, Occasional greetings
Paper, Wild Wasabi CS, Rose Red CS, Crumb Cake CS
Ink, Chocolate chip
Accessories, Brights designer buttons, paper piercer, mat stack, stamp-a-ma-jig, Rich Razzleberry taffeta ribbon, Certainly Celery Taffeta ribbon, scallop trim border punch, basic rhinestones

Hope you enjoy browsing through the new catalogue!! xx

A trip to Paris

Hi everyone,

Today's card is for a lady that I work with called Margaret, she is taking her husband to Paris for his birthday at the weekend and asked that I make a card for him with a french theme. So immediately my Artistic Etchings set came to mind.

I wanted to make a little scene so I started with the Eiffel Tower, then I wanted to stamp some trees so I dusted off my Trendy Trees set ( I love this fab little two-step set I really should use it more!) Then I used my blender pen with the same colour ink as the tree tops, Wild wasabi to add grass to the bottom. I finished off the little scene wit some fluffy clouds from last years SAB set Good Neighbours. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out although I must say it looks much better in real life.

Here's today's recipe

Stamps, Artistic etchings, Trendy trees, Good neighbours SAB (retired)

Paper, Brights DSP stack, Wild wasabi CS, Whisper white CS

Ink, Chocolate chip, Wild wasabi, Marina mist

Accessories, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Brights designer button, Sponge daubers, adhesive letters (from my pre-SU stash)

Hope they had a great weekend, I want to see plenty of photos from the top!!

xx

Card Candy Swap

Hi there!

Sometimes I look at other peoples cards and wish I had thought of what they had come up with, does that ever happen to you?

Well I would like to do a Card Candy swap, and I'm looking for others who would like to join in. I'm hoping for enough takers to do one swap of stamp set candy and one swap of sentiment candy.

Now for those of you who don't know Card Candy is stamped image or 'topper' that is either the main image of a card or a finishing touch to a card. Here is an example that I have quickly put together with the Fox and Friends set.

How it works is each person who would like to participate would make 5-6 elements from one stamp set, all items used MUST be stampin' up, these would need to be posted to me with a stamped addressed envelope also included so that I can post your candy onto you.

If you or a friend would like to join in please contact me by email, letting me know if you would prefer to do images or sentiments, you can take more than one place if you wanted to get more candy in return.

See you soon xx

Less is More sketch challenge

Good Afternoon everyone!

Last week I participated in the Less is More blog challenge, I really enjoyed doing something a little different to my usual style, so I popped over this morning to have a look at this weeks challenge, it's a sketch!

I love sketches, and recently bought a book of card sketches for when inspiration runs away from me and leaves me needing help, so this is a great challenge for me.
I had a few ideas so don't be surprised if you see more than one card for this challenge.
If you'd like to join in the challenge, or have a look at all the other wonderful entries please pop over there, just click on this link.

So here is my card

In the challenge we were asked to use DL cards, which definitely left more 'white space' which is a good thing over at 'Less is More'.

This stamp is from the Crazy for Cupcakes set, I never really took much notice of this lovely little balloon, well when there's a cupcake around who takes much notice of anything else?!

I also added glitter to the balloons, here's a close up, I hope that isn't breaking any rules of the challenge.

Here's the recipe
Stamps Crazy for cupcakes, Curly Cute (sentiment)
Paper, Brights DSP stack, Real Red CS, Daffodil delight CS, Pumpkin pie CS, Whisper white CS
Ink, Staz on, chocolate chip
Accessories, Marina mist satin ribbon, white gel pen, scallop circle punch, stamp-a-ma-jig, 2-way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter.

Hope you like my second attempt at 'less is more', I'd love to know what you think, so please leave a comment if you'd like.
xx

what's the DL?

Well hello there!

I always seem to be making A5 or square cards so I thought that I'd make a long thin card today (DL card), I had been asked to make a card with Victoria on the front, and was a little worried that it wouldn't fit so a long card was the answer to my problem. I was also asked that the card have a 1920's feel, now I wasn't quite sure what that meant be I thought decadent and lavish, I hope I got it right.

I used the flourish from the now retired Bliss set and my stamp-a-ma-jig ( I don't know where I would be without this nifty piece of equipment) to create the background paper, which is choc chip ink stamped onto Rich razzleberry CS. With my much loved Broadsheet alphabet set.

Here's the recipe
Stamps, Bliss (retired SAB) Broadsheet alphabet
Paper, Whisper white CS, Basic black CS, Rich razzleberry CS,
Ink, Rich razzleberry, Chocolate chip
Accessories, basic rhinestones, Stamp-a-ma-jig, and ribbon (from my pre-SU stash)

I hope this fits the bill.
Have fun and get inky xx