Before and after Wink of Stella

Here's a card I made yesterday using the new 

Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

A simple Night of Navy and White colour combo

and the Flurry of Wishes stamp set-

really clean and simple.

Before

..... but I thought it needed something else, 

so I added Wink of Stella to the embossing.

After

Yup - I think that's done the trick -

What do you think??

8th Stampin Up Anniversary and a give-away

On Saturday I received this card in the post from my Stampin' Up! Mummy Julie,

to celebrate my 8th Anniversary as a Demonstrator.

Who would believe it, 8 years.
I joined August 27th 2009.

Julie is so thoughtful and supportive, she has encouraged me every step of the way

on my Stampin Up Journey, and I am proud to be part of her Team and the Stampin Up Family.

Thank you Mummy!!

To celebrate my 8th Anniversary I have a little parcel of goodies to give to one lucky person.
Leave a comment on here and on Saturday I will draw a name out of the bag to select a winner.
You have to be in it to win it!!

Elizabeth's birthday

Elizabeth and I met at Grammar school and have remained friend ever since,

I won't say how many years we have known each other as that would be telling!!

Here's the card I made for her

The border was stamped with a flower from "Happy Birthday Gorgeous"

stamp set - this is so versatile, the greeting is from this set too!

The rose is from Graceful Garden stamp set 

and the central feature is from "You've Got This"

A really girly card in my favourite colour pink!!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth, my very dear friend.

xxxx

Happy 80th Birthday Tom

Tom is my good friend Jackie's Husband, who very willingly makes lunch

 for us both every month when I go over to visit - and very tasty it is too!!

He looks after us so well!

Today it is his 80th Birthday, and here is the card that I have made for him.

I am really pleased with how this turned out.

Happy Birthday Tom - have a brilliant day!!

Sue and Roger's Golden Wedding Anniversay

Sue and Roger's Golden Wedding day is actually on the 29th,

but today they have invited friends and relatives to celebrate 

with them at The Potting Shed, Silkstone.

Barry and I are looking forward to a lovely time.

Here's our card to the happy couple.

The all time favourite for Weddings and Anniversaries -

Bloomin'  Heart Thinlits

You really don't need much else to make a beautiful card.

A simple combination of Very Vanilla and Gold

and a few tiny gold gems 

et voila!!

Happy Anniversary Sue and Roger.

Barry's birthday

Here's one of Barry's Birthday cards that he received.

This one was made by Jan

If it looks familiar - have a look at the card that I made for Anita's Birthday

HERE

and you will see the similarity.

Jan took the design from this and made it into a masculine version .

Its a really useful design and I can see that if I need a man's card in a hurry,

all I will have to do is change the colourway of this one.

Great card!!

Colourful seasons

Guess what - it's not anyone I know's birthday today. so this card can go in my tin

 ready for the next tranche of birthdays - I did say that August was a busy cardmaking month!!

This card uses the beautiful Colourful Seasons Bundle along with the 

matching Colour Theory DSP stack.

Doesn't the paper, card and the ink match beautifully

 - that's what I love about Stampin' Up!

Everything co-ordinates perfectly.

The ink is Berry Burst, the sentiment is from Rose Wonder,

and I have just added a small section of a small Doily

and a few small Rhinestones

Perfick!!

Sue's birthday

Today is the birthday of a friend and ex work-colleague,

who comes to class from time to time - here's her card.

This is based on a card that we made at Training the other month,

it uses the Hostess Stamp set Tranquil Tulips

and has proved to be quite popular.

Colours used Lemon Lime Twist, Fresh |Fig and White.

The sentiment is from Happy Birthday Gorgeous and is punched

with the Pretty Label Punch.

Happy Birthday Sue!!

Jan's Beautiful You cards

Here are two cards that one of my Wednesday Class ladies, Jan,

 has made tonight using the Beautiful You stamp set.

She has created the watercolour background using an Aqua painter (waterbrush)

with ink squeezed onto the lid  (used as a palette).

Don't you think that these are beautiful!!

Well done Jan!

xxx

Allie's birthday

Today it is the birthday of Allie,one of our Stampin' Up! team  of Julies' Jems.

Here's the card I have sent her

Its really CAS  but I love the colours together

Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz and White.

Stamp sets used:

"You've Got This" and "Happy Birthday Gorgeous"

Hope you are having a fabulous day!!

Labels double z-fold box card

Evening everyone - a late blog post from me today,

but I couldn't resist having a go at making this card!

It is based on cards made by Bronwen Eastley,

an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator in Australia.

You may recall that I made a card late last year,

which was probably my favourite card of 2016

which was designed by her.

Well today I purchased the tutorial to make this card

and as soon as I had finished dinner, clearing and washing up etc

I hid myself away in the craft room to get myself organised.

I had two birthday cards that needed finishing to go in the post tomorrow

then I was free to start this little beauty - don't you think it is just so cute!!

I

Card open - almost flat

Card open on display

Card closed - ready for posting

As it's now really late and I am ready for bed (golf in the morning!)

I will close here, but pop back later tomorrow evening and update 

this post with details of stamps dies etc.

Night night

xx

PS if you would like the instructions to make this sweet little card

visit Bronwyn's website here

and you can see loads more designs too!!

Beautiful Bouquet

What an apt name for this stamp set!  

It is a very beautiful bouquet, and I just had to have it.

I really love flower stamps, and have no doubt I could have made several bouquets
by using one of the many flower stamps that I already owned!

But I needed this one!

This card is cased from my Stampin' Up! Mummy -

Julie Kettlewell and you can see her card on her blog 

HERE

Colours used for this bouquet are

Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight,

Tangerine Tango, Old Olive and Crumb Cake.

I really enjoyed making this lovely colourful card - Thanks Julie!!

Ready for Christmas!

At Chris's on Wednesday, we cased this card from the Autumn Winter Catalogue

featuring the Ready for Christmas Bundle

(which those of you who aren't Stampin Up Demonstrators will have

to wait until 1st September to be able to view the fabulous contents.)

I might add that I was resisting this Bundle (as it is not cheap), but

as Chris and I played around with the set, the more it grew on me!!

Consequently it will be on my next order!!

Worth every Penny!!

My Christmas Card

Yesterday you saw Chris's tent fold stepper card

now here's mine.

Front view

Side view

I have used a different large greeting to Chris's - using the Christmas Greetings 

Thinlits Dies (currently in the Clearance rack at a reduced price!!)

I have used the  "peace" one as it matched the sentiment I used 

from the Peace This Christmas stamp set.

The trees are from the Peaceful Pines stamp set and 

Perfect Pines Framelits dies.

The stamped sentiment was stamped onto a Stitched Shapes Framelits

then layered onto a Layering Circle (Scallop) die cut.

Two different versions of the same card.

Em asked if I could post the measurements to recreate this fold
well here they are

From an A4 piece of card, cut into two pieces along the 21 cm side
 (each one will be 10.5 cm wide by 29.7 cm)
Score on the longest side at 10, 20, 22, 24 and 26 cm.

If you look at the side view picture you can see how they fold.
The circle is cut between the edge and the first 10cm  score line
and that is where you glue the front to the back of the last scored line,
this keeps the card stable and stops it from falling over!!
Hope this helps

Chris's Christmas Card

Yesterday it was my turn to go to Chris's (Sister-in-law) house to craft.

Here's the Tent Fold Stepper card she had made for me to have a go at

Front View

Side View

It takes just half a sheet of A4 card, with smaller pieces for the trees.

Chris has used Peaceful Pines stampset

with the matching Perfect Pines Framelits.

I had a go at making this stepper card, but used a different greeting

and I will post mine tomorrow.

Today I am off on another Golf outing - this time it's

with the ladies from my old Golf Club, Sandhill, and its

Lady Captain's Away Day at Aldwark Manor - hence the early blog post !!

Another little wild one

Here's another of the cute animals from the "A Little Wild"  stamp set

front view

Inside View

Don't you agree these are just too cute!!

Thank you cards

Here are three of the thank you cards that I have made to give to customers

 with their latest orders.

I have made a number of these with various colour combos

Black, Berry Burst and White

White and Pool Party

Lemon Lime Twist, black and White.

The Daisy punch makes yet another appearance, and I am able to deliver

 my customers their very own Bundle - they seem to have been waiting ages,

so it seemed appropriate to use this for their thank-you cards!

Sentiment  from Thankful Thoughts.

Layering Ovals Framelits dies.
Garden Trellis Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

1/2" Circle punch used for daisy centre.
I'll post a few more of them later.

Anita's Birthday

Yesterday was mine and Chris's friend, Anita's birthday.

Here's the card I made for her

A very CAS, but I think classy card.

I always think that Black and White is really dramatic.

The flowers are stamped with the Wood Words stamp set.

The sentiment is cutting with the Happy Birthday Thinklits

(part of the Happy Birthday Gorgeous Bundle.

Hope you had a lovely day Anita!!

Catherine's Birthday and a Sneak Peek

Today its' the birthday of my friend and downline, Catherine.

I thought that she might like to see  a sneak peek of the new  

"Painted Harvest" stamp set which was one of my Autumn/Winter

Seasonal catalogue pre-order items.

I'm not sure that I got the Sunflowers right, but it is my first attempt!

The sentiments are from the Soft Sayings kit - I love this stamp set -

lovely sentiments!!

Happy Birthday Catherine,

have a great day!!

Barry's Birthday

Yup- it's another birthday today - someone very special -

my darling husband Barry.

So I made him this special card - notice the likeness to Lucas's birthday card?

Why reinvent the wheel!!

Amanda's U fold card design used again - great for mens cards.

View from above

Front view

Can you see the Silver Glimmer paper?

It looks so good in real life!

And this shows how it folds to fit into a C6 envelope!!

Happy birthday Barry - love you - have a great day (golfing with me!!)

xxxx

Amy's birthday

Do you recall that I said that August was a busy month for card-making,

well it's certainly keeping me motivated, trying to come up with suitable

designs for the various cards I have to do!!

Can you guess who this one is for?

No prizes for guessing.

I love the stunning effect of the Lemon Lime Twist card stock against the Black.

This was embossed using the  Garden Trellis Textured Impressions Embossing Folder,

which I think looks really effective (and appropriate) behind the Daisy.

Flower punched with Daisy Punch, flower centre is a large Clear Faceted Gem.

Leaves cut using a leaf die from the Bouquet Bunch Framelits -

I will definitely be using these lovely leaves a lot!!

I am so glad that the Daisy punch is now available for customers to purchase

as I am certainly getting my money's worth out of mine!!

Happy Birthday Amy,

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Lucas

Today it's our Grandson's 14th birthday.

And as usual, I struggle with cards for males - youngsters are a little easier,

but 14th birthdays call for something a little more grown up.

So Amanda's fancy fold card came to the rescue!

angled view from above

Front View

A simple colour combo of Tempting Turquoise and White,

some retired DSP to match, "Lucas" cut using the Large Letters Framelits

and the sentiment using the Happy Birthday Thinlits die.

A couple of stars to finish it off and hey presto- finished.

I did make this card larger than the ones I have made before,

this one folds flat and fits into a C5 envelope.

A little wild

As you may have been aware, it rained incessantly yesterday, 

so we decided that the game of golf that was planned for 9:00 a.m. was a no go!

Similarly, as it was still raining, the second game that was planned for 5:00 p.m.

was also given up as a bad job.

This meant that I actually had time to play with one of my new acquisitions-

The stamp set "A Little Wild" and the Little Loves Framelits Dies

which can be bought as a bundle at a 10% Discount!!

Front view

Inside view

I had quite a few aperture cards stashed away in a box, and when I saw the stamps

I knew straight away what I was going to do with them.

But I had to do a little tweaking!!

This card had a square aperture on the centrefold panel,

I cut the circle out of the Right hand side panel, painted the grass at the bottom,

 then cut a further circle out of a square piece of White card 

to sit between the two panels.

Using an Aqua-painter and Ink pad, I painted the sky and the grass

in Pear Pizzazz and Soft Sky on the White square with the circle cut out.

  This was then stuck  to the back of the Right hand panel.

I then cut a square of Window Sheet (acetate) and  stuck this

between the front and RHS panels, then stuck the front panel to the RHS panel.

Hope you can follow this!!

I stamped the elephant (both the front and back are on a single stamp, 

so you can die cut and then fold them into a tag), 

cut between the front and back images,

then stuck the elephant front to the acetate on the front panel, 

and the elephants rear on the reverse side.

(You might be able to understand better if you just look at the photos above)

Or maybe you might like a tutorial?

If so just ask, and I'll add it to my things to do list!!

The final touches were the two die cut ferns at either side,

the greeting on the inside -sentiment is from "Birthday Delivery" stamp set

and the name at the bottom!!

Et voila!!

I love it!!

Carol's Birthday

Today is my friend and fellow crafter, Carol's birthday.

Here's the card I made for her.

Clean and simple, colour combo of Black White and Silver.

Computer generated sentiment (suits the design don't you think)

The flower and the silver mat are cut from Silver Glimmer paper

which really glistens against the Black.

Flower punched with Daisy punch and flower centre cut with the 3/4" circle punch 

and embossed in the "Softly Falling" Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

The only added embellishments are the three small Rhinestones

 in the top right corner.

If you are reading this Carol - Happy Birthday and have a great day!!

Sandhill Golf Club Junior champion

This weekend was the Club Championship at my old Golf Club, Sandhill.

My Son (Simon) and Grandson (Lucas) both played over the two days and I am

so proud to announce that Lucas won the Junior Champion Trophy

Here's the card that I made to celebrate his win - I can't give him the card yet 

as he is away on tour with his cricket team!!

I will see him on his birthday on Thursday and give him this then.

Congratulations Lucas - so proud of you!!

--------------

Mary's Birthday card

Here is the birthday card that I have made for my friend 

(who is also Lady Captain at my Golf Club)

It was her birthday yesterday.

As she has already had a golfing card from me to celebrate her captaincy,

I decided to send her a nice flowery one for her birthday.

(it's the same design as the Ruby Wedding Anniversary, - so versatile!)

It's a very special birthday for her, but I wont divulge her age!!

Colour combo of Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Gold and White.

Stamp set Graceful Garden.

The trellis work, Sentiment and rose were all stamped in Versamark

then heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

The rose and leaves were then coloured in using stamp pads

and an Aqua-painter, which gives them a more natural look.

Final touches were a Wink of Stella on the rose petals

and voila!

Happy Birthday Mary, hope you had a lovely time and enjoyed your day!

Eva's Christening Card

Today my nephew Stephen (sister Maggie's son) is having his daughter

 Eva Lily christened so I wanted to mark the occasion with a special card.

Its a very CAS card, simply a cross cut out of  Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

using the Flourish Thinlits dies.

This is glued onto a Powder Pink cardstock mat,

which in turn is glued onto Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

then glued into a White base card.

The sentiment is computer generated.

I am really pleased with this keepsake for Stephen and Nikki

not forgetting Eva!

Update

Here's a photo of Eva in church after the event, 

 holding her Christening Candle

and with Stephen and Nikki -

doesn't she look so sweet!!

Val's 40th Wedding Anniversary card

As promised here is the Ruby Wedding Anniversary card that Val made 

for her Husband, at class on Thursday evening.

I helped her with the layout and design, and whilst she said that she

couldn't stand the colour red, I was able to persuade her that

she really couldn't make a Ruby Wedding Anniversary card

in any other colour!!

Val really likes her bling, and the Real Red Glimmer card used

for the "Large Numbers" and the "Bloomin Love" heart die cut

really do the trick, coupled with the Red Foil Card mat

on top of the base card.

Val likes texture and used the Softly Falling Textured Embossing Folder 

on the white mat, which looks really effective.

Isn't this a super card -

Happy Ruby Wedding Day Val and Neil - have a lovely day!!

Ruby Wedding Card

One of the ladies who comes to Thursday craft class wanted to make a 

40th Wedding anniversary card for her husband. It's their Anniversary

this weekend, so whilst she was busy working on her card, 

I put together this one to give to her.

The stamp set is Graceful Garden, and I must admit that I wasn't going to

buy this set, but I made a couple of Cards at Chris's  the other week,

then just had to buy it myself, and it arrived this morning.

The colour combo is Real Red, Old Olive and White,

The sentiment is from Number of years.

I only had room for little numbers with the space on the card,

so Little Numbers (retired) dies it had to be.

Don't know whether you can see it, but I  finished the rose off with

the obligatory Wink of Stella!

I'll post the one that she made tomorrow - I don't think her husband will read my blog!!

Gail's Birthday

You may recall that I said that August was a busy month for birthdays,

and quite a few of these are for golfing friends.

This is the card that I have made for Gail (would you believe?)

who plays weekends with us.

I don't have any Stampin'Up! golfing themed stamps, so I have just picked some

 cheerful DSP (retired) to match the outfit I have coloured the stamped image in.

Happy Birthday Gail!!

Have a great day!

Howard's birthday.

You might be able to guess that this card is for a golfing friend of Barry's and mine.

On Saturdays and Sundays, we all get together and have a mixed pairs competition

of some description, and golfing teams are drawn out, so you very often play with

 someone other than your beloved. Howard and his wife Eileen, play most weekends.

I am sure that this will give Howard a smile!!

Happy Birthday Howard!

Birthday card for Wife

A golfing friend asked me to make a birthday card for his wife,

and he didn't want anything fussy or too lovey dovey (his words!)

So I thought that this fitted the bill nicely.

Clean and classy, no frills!

This uses the Rose Garden Thinlits dies and Melon Mambo, 

Black and White card.

The black outline is the die cut,  and for the petals, you cut out another rose

 in Melon Mambo and fit the petal pieces into the Black frame- just like a jigsaw.

The sentiment is computer generated.

I think that this looks quite dramatic, and hope that his wife appreciated it.

--------------------