Botanicals Hello

Here's another Hello card, this time using the Botanical Builder dies and the Hello SAB stamp.

the colours used are Mossy Meadow, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz and White.

Can you spot the Wink of Stella flower centres?

I can't take credit for the design as I had seen this on the Internet, but I love the colours so much.

I really love the Botanicals Bundle, you will see many more of these items in the future 

as I have done quite a few cards already.

Enjoy

Hello

Hello - that's the name of the Sale-a-bration stamp set, and it has proved to be quite popular.

It is one of the limited availability SAB sets, but a couple of my crafting ladies, didn't order it last month, not realising this.

Here's one of the cards that sparked the interest.

A colour combo of Soft Sky, Smoky Slate, Silver and White.

The greeting was stamped in Versamark, then heat embossed with Silver Embossing powder.

The horizontal and vertical wavy lines were stamped in Archival Basic Gray ink,

as was "Birthday Boy".

Embellishments are Metallic Sequins.

For information - if you wanted this SAB stamp set, and thought that it was unavailable, 

I tried to order it as a free set with a £45 purchase yesterday for my customers yesterday afternoon. 

Our fabulous inventory status report system informed me

 "low inventory, order soon" which I did.  My ladies will be so pleased!  

So it's worth talking to your Stampin Up Demo to see if there are any more left!

 Good luck!

Balloon birthday

This week sees my Nephew Stephen's birthday , and my Niece/God-daughter, Katie's birthday.

This evening I have done the card for Stephen.

Nothing too fancy for him!

The sunburst is from Kinda Eclectic (fancy that!!) stamped in Smoky Slate

Happy is die cut from the Hello You Thinlits dies and one of the balloons punched, 

both using the It's My Party DSP Stack. The other balloon is cut from Pool Party card stock.

Birthday is stamped using the Crazy About You stamp set.

The balloon strings are hand drawn with a Black Project Life Journalling Pen.

I'm quite pleased with the results of this one.

Timeless Textures

For this card I christened a stamp set that I bought in January and hadn't used until now.

Chris came over on Wednesday and as usual we crafted together.  

Here's the card that we both made, inspired by one we had seen on the Internet.

The stamp set is Timeless Textures and I love the vintage/grunge style to this card.

The flowers were stamped with the Flower Shop stamp set and cut out with 

the matching Pansy punch and the Petite Petals stamp set and matching punch.

The sentiment is from Tag Talk.

Colours used were Blushing Bride, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.

Sequins were used instead of rhinestones.

Botanical Builder Butterfly card

I saw this card on Monica Gale's blog HERE and I couldn't wait to have a go at this myself.

Once again it's a very minimalist card, not so much CAS,

but I think that it's so elegant in it's simplicity.

This is my effort.

The leaves are die cut with the Botanical Builder Framelits.

Two White,  two Lost Lagoon, and two Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum leaves were cut.

The vellum ones were layered above the Lost Lagoon ones, 

The white ones were winked with Stella!! (hope that this shows up)

The Elegant Butterfly punch was used to do one Melon Mambo and two vellum butterflies.

I unravelled  some of the Pool Party Glitter ribbon to fasten these three together 

and the loose ends made the antennae.

the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

Thank you Monica for this, I have really enjoyed making this!

CAS Sunflowers card

Whilst I like to do various styles of cards, from time to time 

I feel the need to do a Clean and Simple one - and really enjoy making them.

This Sunflower Card is just that - CAS

the sunflowers are made using the punch from the Grateful Bunch bundle 

- the Blossoms Punch.  

The colour combination is Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow,

 flower centres are bling from my stash.

The sentiment is from  Bloomin with Kindness and the background from World of Dreams.

Mmmm..... I like this!

Bloomin Heart Birthday

Last Wednesday I went to Sister-in-law Chris's for our usual crafty weekly get together.

Hadn't  seen her for more than two weeks as she had been ill, 

and was just about feeling fit enough to craft.

She had purchased instructions from Jenny Moors blog for some cards using

The Bloomin' Love stamps and matching Bloomin' Heart Thinlits dies.

Here's what we made

The colour combo is Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake (ribbon) and White

Blushing Bride Glimmer Paper was used for the flowers

and the sentiment is a Teeny Tiny Sentiment stamp.

Basic Pearl embellishments.

If you would like to purchase the instructions for this, 

Visit Jenny's blog for details HERE

Butterfly birthday with a difference

I am having a break from my alphabet postings for a short while 

so I hope that you will enjoy these projects just the same.

I have lots of birthdays coming up so I won't say who this one is intended for, 

and I hope that they'd enjoy receiving it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I have seen a few cards with the basic design of this one, 

using the Bloomin Heart Thinlet dies and the Bold Butterflies Framelits dies.

Here's my version.

The colour combo is Wisteria Wonder and White.

 I have used Versamark with White embossing powder for the little flower spray, 

For the little leaf spray I have just used Wisteria Wonder.

The sentiment is from Wetlands.

A single Basic Rhinestone is the only embellishment used.

I am really happy with this little beauty and can see me doing this in various colour combinations.

Sad news again today.....

I received a phone call from my cousin earlier this evening to say that our Uncle had died last week, and to give me details of the funeral. This is the second sad news that I have received in a week, 

so I was just glad that I had made a sympathy card earlier on in the week, 

and I will send it tomorrow to my Aunt Lizzie.

This is one of my stand by cards that I make, using the ink dusting technique, 

and stamping the text background (retired "En Francais" but much too useful to part with 

until SU do another  large text stamp) through a circle mask.

I then over stamped the flowers and leaves from the World of Dreams stamp set,

Then added the sentiment (yet another retired set Love and Sympathy) cut out with the Large Oval punch and raised up on dimensionals.

Colour combination is Night of Navy and White.

It was a sad finish to an otherwise beautiful day.

Lexie and I have spent the day together, starting off with crafting after breakfast, 

then making a bedroom for her Shopkins.

Later we went for a lunchtime swim and then had a MacDonalds for brunch.

Then Maths homework - maths using Roman Numerals no less - that got my brain exercised too!

Lexie and I compared our answers (I don't do her homework for her, probably as well!!) 

and she says that I have got one wrong , but I'm not convinced.

We had a difference of opinion over 49 - I still maintain that this is IL, but Lexie says it's not , 

and I can't remember what she said it was.  We'll have to see how the teacher marks this!

After the Maths, Lexie made a Celtic Shield from thick greyboard and Fun foam, 

with white acrylic paint and gold crayon no less.  I have to confess she has made a great job of this.

(I'll try and get some photos, we didn't have time today!)

Simon,  Kerry and Lucas joined us around 5:30 and I persuaded Simon to make the Yorkshire puddings to go with our dinner, which he willingly did, then we all sat down and ate.

So we had had a really pleasant day, which is quite good in view of the later call.

Anyway, had better get a move on or it will be bed time before I get this posted.

Tomorrow is another day - onwards and upwards!

Kinda Eclectic - sympathy card

I had some sad news this morning, my friend, and down line, Mavis contacted me to say that her husband had passed away last week.  Although he has been ill and in hospital before Christmas, he had been allowed home, and was attending various clinics. It was obviously a great shock to Mavis and she is still trying to come to terms with it,

All I could do was express my heartfelt sympathy for her, and whilst at Chris's today I have made this sympathy card and posted it to her.

A very CAS sympathy card, cased from the Internet,

 I have altered the ribbon slider, using the die from Project Life Tags and  Labels dies

 and punched the slots using the curvy trio punch .  

The colour combo is Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand and Whisper White.  

Once again the stamp set is Kinda Eclectis, I am sure that you will agree it is a most versatile set.

The sentiment is from Wetlands 

Thoughts and prayers being sent to Mavis at this very sad time, God Bless!!

K is for Kinda Eclectic

Here's the card I made for Emma's birthday on Valentine's Day.

I can safely post it now, although I don't think for a minute that she has time to blog hop, 

she has an active 18 month old toddler, who keeps her extremely busy,

 and she works 4 days a week too!

The main stamp set I have used here is Kinda Eclectic - which sums it up nicely.  

There is a variety of styles and images in this set and it is fast becoming a favourite of mine, 

so you may well see some more cards using this set.

The colour combination is the In Colours 2014-2016,

 Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon! Mossy Meadow and Hello Honey.

Other stamp sets used are : 

Rose Wonder stamps (for the sentiment plate) die cut with the matching die.

Sentiment from Wetlands - that's a favourite too

Pictograms Punches - the tiny flowers are from this set 

and punched with the matching Itty Bitty Accents punch.

Gorgeous Grunge is used for all the splats - another useful set!

Butterflies punched with the two Butterfly punches.

Basic Rhinestones on the butterflies. 

 I think I have covered just about everything there!

In retrospect should have put bling in the flower centres.

See you tomorrow

PS if you heard about my iPad dying on me Friday night, I went to the Apple Store 

in Meadowhall yesterday afternoon (after arranging an appointment with an engineer there)

And walked out 20 minutes later with a brand new iPad - no hassle whatsoever.

The young man even spent time making sure that we set it up correctly before leaving the store.  

Well done Apple - excellent customer service!

And today is Valentines Day

Taking a break from my alphabet series today as it's Valentines Day, 

and it's also the birthday of my God-daughter and Niece, Emma (Maggie's Daughter)

So today I'll post the Valentine I made for my beloved Barry - he puts up with a lot from me!!

Who else would let me have the biggest room in the house for my Craft Room, whilst he has to put up with the spare bedroom for his music!!

I computer generated the sentiment around the card.

I used the Bloomin Hearts Thinlets to cut the filigree red heart shape, 

then I used the Hearts collection (now retired) thinlets

in the centre of the black card square to frame this.

Three black gems (non-Stampin Up) from my stash 

and voila - a very CAS Valentine for the one I love!!

K is for Koala

I wanted something Australia themed for my Nephew Richard's birthday next week .

Richard is Sister-in-law Chris's son and yes you've guessed, he lives in Australia.

I think that I've left it a little late for posting for him to receive on his birthday,

so I will email him this on the day!!

Here's my punch art Koala card!!

Happy Birthday Richard

PS I know that I can safely post this on my blog as he will never ever read it!

Jo's birthday

The end of this month sees a very special birthday for one of my special friends Jo.

It's not a landmark occasion, but Jo is one of those special people who only have real birthdays once every four years  - yes she was born on 29th February! So it is quite a special day for her, so I wanted to make her a special card?

Jo isn't a crafter and she doesn't blog, so I am quite safe posting this in advance of her birthday, knowing there is no chance of her seeing this before the big day.

Side view showing the gap

Front view.

I simply used Melon Mambo ink, Flower Shop Stamp set with matching Pansy Punch

And Petite Petals stamp set with matching punch to make this Gap card.

The Back to Basics Alphabet was used for her name.

I really like these gap cards (if you hadn't noticed!)

January thank yous

The next J is for my January Thank you cards that I send to my Stampin Up customers 

as a little thank you for their orders in that month. 

Here is the first batch that I have made today.

And here is a close up

The cards measure 10 cm square, and the stamp set used is Kinda Eclectic 

(make a mental note for the letter K coming up soon!)

Colours used are Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss and melon Mambo.

A couple of Basic Rhinestones completes the design.

The sentiment is from Watercolour Wings.

I am really happy with these and I hope my customers like them them too!

And J is Just for you!

Here's a card made using one of the free Sale-a-bration stamp sets currently available with every spend of £45.00.

I think that this is a really useful stamp set as you only need a couple of ink pads and away you go

- a really quick card in minutes.

The colours used here are Blackberry Bliss, Bermuda Bay and Pear Pizzazz.

Can you see the odd Wink of Stella on here, not sure whether it shows or not!

J is for Julie....... Continued

This time the Julie is my Stampin Up sister Julie Wade.  

You recall that I said that SU mummy Julie got her gold, well later that evening Julie Wade

got her Silver Elite too, so that meant that mummy Julie achieved GOLD ELITE!!

All this in the space of a few hours - it was a proper domino effect!

Anyhow, I set to and made a card for my Silver Elite twin Julie Wade

A simple colour combo of Night of Navy with Silver, I used the Grateful Bunch stamp set,

 versamark ink and Silver Embossing powder, then punched out the flowers using the 

matching Blossom Bunch Punch (sold as a bundle saving a whopping 15%)

The sentiment was from Cottage Greetings.

I then set about making mummy Julie another congrats card for her Gold Elite this time, so I just repeated the design of Julie W's card, but this time made it in Black and Gold

Sorry about the poor quality of the photo, it was late at night when I finished this and the lighting was rubbish, but you can see the detail of it.

Anyhow, all in all it was quite an eventful day for all of us -

Anita, Chris, myself, mummy Julie and Julie W - congratulations to us all!!

J is for Julie.........

Julie my Stampin Up mummy!

During the last week in January a chain of events happened within my Stampin up family.

My Sister-in-law Chris (who is also my downline) gained her Silver status when she signed up her friend and past SU Demo Anita.

All I needed for promotion to Silver Elite was to have a Silver downline, which Chris had now, so I got my promotion.

Julie only needed a Silver Elite in her downline for her to be promoted to GOLD!!

So consequently she got her promotion too.

Here's the congratulation card that I made for her.

L

With a very classy colour scheme of Black, Gold and White, 

I used the Little Numbers Thinlets with gold glimmer paper, a black card blank

The leafy border cut using the Botanical Builder Framelits dies.

The paper is from the free Sale-a-bration Wildflower Fields DSP.

The sentiment is from Sky is the Limit - another Free Sale-a-bration stamp set 

And there's more ........ Pop back tomorrow for the next part of this little tale!

J is for John

John is my nephew (my baby sister's eldest son)........

and tonight we are having a celebration of his marriage to the beautiful Danielle.  

This took place on the 17th November last year, when they were married at sea on board 

the Royal Carribbean cruise ship, Freedom of The Seas.

Here's the card that I have made for them

This card was inspired by the swap that I received from Kylie at Quarterly Training

 - Thanks Kylie it fits the bill perfectly don't you think?

Can you see the Wink of Stella on this close up??

I used the Hearts Collection Framelits to make the large heart, then used the fabulous

Bloomin Hearts Thinlets for the layer below, on top of a piece of Silver card.

The sentiments were computer generated and the only embellishment that I thought

was necessary, was the Wink of Stella for the flower centres.

Hope that they like this!!

Here's a photo of the happy couple on their wedding day!!

I for inspiration.

After a prolonged absence I am attempting a comeback at blogging,

 and just needed a little inspiration.

I have done plenty of crafting in my absence from blogging, just lacked the oomf

 to sit down and blog what I have been doing.  Hope to make amends in the short term!!

At training on Wednesday, Julie challenged us all to make a project using

 the Hardwood stamp and anything out of the Annual catalogue.

My inspiration came from the Internet, where I happened upon a card by 

Narelle Famigia who is also a Stampin Up demonstrator .

This is my version.

I used The Open Sea stamp set, along with the Hardwood stamp, and used Crumb Cake

 and Night of Navy inks.  The sentiment was from Wetlands. 

I am trying to get to grips with blogging from my iPad and it has taken me ages to do this post.

I think that's what has been putting me off doing my blog.

However I will persevere and see if I can't master it!!

If anyone has any helpful tips that might be useful to me I could sure do with some help!!