Big on Birthdays with Springtime Foils

I am so pleased with this card, its one of 4 that Chris and I made the other Wednesday.

This is the first one

A colour combo of Smoky Slate,Basic Gray and White, combined with

the beautiful copper outlining on this Springtime Foils DSP - it was free

during Sale-a-bration, and I could hardly bear to cut into it!!

We coloured in the leaves with Smoky Slate and Crumb Cake

 and the only embellishment is three rhinestones.

Perfick!!

Will show you the other sometime soon!

Soft Sayings stepped up !

Here's one of the cards that I sent to Jackie in her card bomb!

Another card telling her that I miss her!

The soft Sayings kit has some lovely elements that you can use as suggested

in the kit, or like this one that I have stepped up by layering the front

of the card onto a piece of the gold envelope liner!  Its far too nice to waste using 

as an envelope liner! and it makes this card look so elegant!

I then layered this onto a larger card base. The design is just stepped up!

What do u reckon!

I love it!

Another Tailored Tag Punch card

I really love this punch - it is so versatile, I keep finding papers and thinking

 - that would make a lovely Tailored Tag card!!

Here's the one I did for Kerry's birthday earlier in April.

To make this one special I added a few rhinestones here and there, 

but I don't think that they have shown up at all on this photo.

I used stamps from the "Bloomin' Love stamp set on the white spaces

of this card, rather than placing pieces of the punched papers there.

Share what you love suite - birthday

There is a fabulous new suite coming up very soon, and as a Demonstrator, 

we were privileged to be able to pre order this suite early April.

Mine has arrived and I have started playing and here are piccies

of my first project.

Card stood up for display

Card closed for posting

Card open to show Stampin Up Statement of the Heart sentiment

For this project I used
the Love What You DO stamp set
Statement Of My Heart stamp set
Share What You Love Speciality DSP
Share What You Love card stock
 - I used the returning Mint Macaron card (and inkpad)
and Rich Razzleberry card
plus Thick Whisper White card for card base and layering.
(Aren't these colours fabulous!)

As I wanted this card for a friends birthday
I used the sentiment from You're Inspiring


This is a fabulous suite of products, I selected the "Gotta Have it all" Bundle, 

which as the name implies has the full suite of products

There are three bundles available:-

 Just Getting Started Bundle

A Little More, Please Bundle

Gotta Have it All

To see details of the different bundles you can purchase from the 1st of May
click on the link
HERE

Memories and More Sympathy card.

Here's a sympathy card that I used one of the Petal Passion Memories and More cards for.

I simply coloured the flower and leaves with Wink of Stella, stamped the sentiment

 onto it, matted it onto Black card, then layered onto a White 7" x 5" base card

 as that was all it needed. I think it's very appropriate.

I shall make some more of these as they are always difficult to make, 

so it's good to have some at hand.

This card is for my hairdresser, Katy, whose Nannan died recently 

and it will be her funeral next Thursday.

Josie’s Birthday

 Today is Barry’s cousin Josie’s birthday.

Here’s the card I have sent her.

This features a retiring stamp set - You've Got This
which is great for bulk card making when you need cards in a hurry!!
So if you want this stamp set - you'd better hurry before it goes.

Happy Birthday Josie, have a great day!
xx

A bit box extra special card #4

Well you wouldn't believe how small that piece of DSP was

that I decided to make the basis of this card 

It actually measured 8.4 cm x 11.7 cm and a cut it into 2 strips,

 one 3 cm wide and the other one 5.4 cm wide.

this is made to the same basic card fold design as the original one,
 and you can find details and measurements on the original post
HERE

Card open for display

Card folded flat for posting

View from above showing the two cards and the mechanics of the fold.

I have a few special birthdays coming up, so if your birthday is in the next few weeks, 

this might be your card!!

More cards for Jackie

Here's another one of the cards that I have posted to Jackie today

This should be the first one that she opens (as it has number 1 written on the envelope!)

This should hopefully cheer her up as it is bright and colourful.

I have matted and layered one of the 

Sweet Soiree Memories and More cards, which was a free Sale-a-bration set,

 that I am finding really useful for cards needed in a hurry,

 or when you just can't come up with inspiration you need for a certain occasion. 

Don't know whether it shows, but I used Wink of Stella on the flower centres

 and on the HELLO - it really looks effective in real life, and I am 

so pleased with this.  Luckily there are two of every card in this set,

 so I can keep one for myself to just look at!

Missing you

Here's one of the cards I made to send to my good friend Jackie as part of a card bomb!

This will be the second lot of cards I have sent to her since I came home from holiday!

I sent her a parcel of 10 cards when she was in hospital, just so that she knew 

I was thinking of her.  Each one was in a numbered envelope with instructions 

as to the order they were to be opened.She has been in and out of hospital

 quite a few times since mid February, only coming home this time, late this week.

So I thought it was time I sent her another set as I wont be seeing her until 

the week after next at least! Think she will appreciate the gesture!

I have used one of the Memories and More Petal Passion cards

as the basis of this card, matted  and layered onto a base card 7" x 5"

  I added the Soft Sayings sentiment and one of the Touches of Texture

 stamps on both the top layer as well as the base card.

the finishing touch was the Silver edged white ribbon.

If you are reading this Jackie - see you soon!

Bit box card #3

Hi there, well I seem to be doing OK with my resolution to use up

bits and bobs of card, ribbon, DSP etc and am quite pleased at

the results, the latest of which you can see here.

You might recognise the beautiful (Sale-a-bration) Springtime Foils 

Speciality DSP, which is the central focus of the card, and you can see

it was just the last piece left off one of the sheets - but much too pretty

to throw away!  Can you see the beautiful sheen on this.

I used some copper foiled washi tap to frame this on either side.

Then stamped in versamark and heat embossed with Copper

Embossing Powder:  the two side panels using the Floral Phrases

 and Flirty Flowers stamp sets and the sentiment from  Balloon Celebration.

The ribbon came from my bit box too - just enough to finish the card off nicely.

An extra special birthday card.

Wanted to do an extra special card the other day, had an idea of

what colours and paper, and a general idea of the style -

this is what I came up with.

I am so pleased with this.

front view - open for display

Folded flat for posting

view from above showing the mechanics.

A simple colour combo of Night of Navy, White with a splash of Daffodil Delight.

The Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set has been used to stamp the border

(I used the balloon stamp and masked the border) and Delightful Daisy

to stamp the flower. The 1/2 punch was used to punch the flower centre and

the daisy punch was used to punch the daisy.

What do you think?

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

I have been asked for the measurements on this:-
Base card - white 14.8cm square
The front is folded in half and folded back to the spine.
The top card is 12.5 cm square and is folded the opposite way
if you look at the picture above I think you will see what I mean.
The coloured mat on the top of this card measures 11 cm square

Do let me know if you have a go at this, would love to see your versions of this.

Happy Birthday Heather!

Today it's the birthday of my Nephew Adam's wife - Heather

Here's the card that I made for her

I used a card from the Petal Passion Memories & More card pack,

used Versamark to ink the Stylized Birthday greeting 

and heat embossed with Silver embossing powder.

I then coloured the flower and leaves with Clear Wink of Stella -

don't know whether it shows on this photo, but it twinkles beautifully! 

I added a few rhinestones, them layered the card onto

a Black card stock mat , and in turn layered this onto a white 7" x 5" card base.

I really love this card and am really pleased with it.

Hope that Heather likes it too!

Happy Birthday Heather

Have a great day!!

A CAS Thank you!

Yesterday and today we have been having a new central heating boiler

fitted upstairs and an extra radiator fitted downstairs.

The plumber, Andrew, has done all this work on his own, 

and I have to say he has done a great job, we are really pleased.

We'll be even more pleased now, when we need the downstairs loo,

especially in Winter, as we won't freeze to death in the process!!

Here's the thank you card I made for him.

A really CAS thank you card for a job well done.

The colour is Emerald Envy, which is another of the colours that is retiring.

 I cant say it's one of my favourites, so wont really miss this one-

but it's suitable for a fella, and the matching DSP is always a bonus!

Thanks again Andrew!!

More retiring colours

Here are a couple more cards showcasing more retiring colours

Notice that they are basically the same design as the Soft Sky and Pink Pirouette cards
from Sunday, but because of the colour combos they look totally different.

This one in Sweet Sugar Plum, Black with a touch of Silver

And this one iu Rose Red, Wild Wasabi and White

My favourite from the retiring  colours is Sweet Sugar Plum -
maybe that will be a returning colour one day!

Liz's Anniversary card

Today its my friend Liz's Wedding Anniversary 

and her husband Alan asked me to make her an Anniversary card

 for him to send her.

Here's what I came up with.

The photo really doesn't do this justice, but I am really pleased with the result.

I used a pre printed card base with silver flourishes on it.

I stamped and silver heat embossed the Happy Anniversary and the "wife", 

which I die cut with the Sweet and Sassy Framelits (which are retiring!)

then die cut a Silver Sassy Heart to mat the "Wife" greeting onto.

Die cut the "Bloomin Heart" using Dazzling Diamond Glimmer Paper

and just a few Rhinestone embellishments to finish it off.

Happy Anniversary Liz and Alan, have a great day!!

Bye bye Soft Sky (and Pink Pirouette too!)

My cards today feature just two of the colours that will be leaving at the end of May,

 to make room for some lovely new ones to take their place.

So I thought I would showcase them in all their glory before they take their final bow!

LHS Soft Sky                          LHS Pink Pirouette
Cards stood up for display

Cards folded flat for posting

I think that you will agree that the DSP (retired Birthday Bouquet)
 which I have used with these cards,   displays the lovely colours so well,it's some more pieces retrieved from my bit box to match the card stock

   I used the matching ink to stamp another beautiful stamp which matches both the card stock and DSP - from the stamp set Birthday Blooms - which will also be retiring at the end of May.

The greeting is from Vertical Greetings, and I am happy to say that will be with usstill when the new Catalogue launches in June.

So if you want to purchase either the card stock, inkpad or Stamp set, you may wantto order it well before the end of May to ensure you get it!

Liz's 70th today!!

Remember my good friend Liz - the one who does all the punch art figures?

Well it's her 70th birthday today - and she'll kill me for telling you this.

However, I wanted to make her a special card to mark the occasion,

and you may have noticed I have done quite a few using the

Tailored Tag punch mosaic style card .  Well I have used it for Liz's card

along with the fabulous Fresh Florals DSP in zingy Lemon Lime Twist.

I love it! and hope that she will too!!

Happy Birthday Liz - have a great day!!

Tracy's Birthday

Today is the birthday of a friend, ex work colleague and fellow crafter - Tracy!

I've not seen her for a while but we keep in touch and send cards at Christmas and Birthdays.

Here's a card that I have cased from my fellow Stampin Up Jem's teamie, Amanda, 

whose card you can find

HERE

If you take a look at Amanda's version, mine is a very simplified version of this, 

but  now I've mastered it, I will do a stepped up version later.

Card closed flat for posting

Card open

Card open again - different angle

Apologies for the quality of the photos above, 

but it does give you the gist of the opening mechanism.

Thanks Amanda for the inspiration, I'll post a stepped up version

 (more like yours!) once I have completed it.

Meantime, Happy Birthday Tracy - have a great day!!

Bit Box card # 2

Well if I can keep this up I will be well pleased with myself,

and my bit box will have disappeared by Christmas!!

Here's card number 2

The topper was caseed from a swap I received some years ago and I just

hadn't the heart to throw it away.

Now it's been upcycled and made into a Thinking of You card

that will go into my little box of cards for all occasions - 

and I can see that this box may have to be replaced with a bigger one!!

The retired SU stamp set was Fine Feathers (and I have to confess that I still have this set!!)

so if my ladies want to do this card with up to date colours and papers they can!!

The DSP is the same as I used on card #1

Sentiment is from a retired SU set can't remember which one!! 

Cara's Birthday

Today it's my friend and fellow crafter, Cara's 40th birthday.

I have made her one of the patchwork Tailored Tag cards

using some beautiful (but sadly retired) DSP and matching card stock

(part of my "use what you've got "campaign!!)

White Base card

Lost Lagoon mat and Blackberry Bliss layer and ink.

Sentiment from Happy Birthday Gorgeous.

Have a super Birthday and a great day Cara!!

White on White

This weekend we didn't play golf, so I had time to go round a few blog hops.

I happened across a beautiful card, which I have cased here,

unfortunately I haven't been able to find the blog of the lady

whose card I have cased.

If you know whose it is, please let me know so that I can credit her with it.

A really CAS white on white card, that isn't too difficult to make.

but I think it looks a million dollars - dont you??

No stamps used at all, just dies.

For the corners, Petals and More Thinlits dies
and the greeting - Happy Birthday Thinlits die.
Some double sided tape and some Stampin Up Glitter!
I love it!

Bit Box Cards # 1

If you are anything like me, you save bits of paper, card, ribbon etc,

in the hope that one day these will come in handy - does this sound familiar?

Well as well as making the resolution to use up retired DSP and card,

I have now resolved to sort out my ever growing bit box!!

Here is the first card example

Papers from unknown source.

Sentiment is Stylized Birthday, one of the most used  greetings that I use time and time again.

The stars die cut from the bit box was a little bent, but I straightened it -

it had been cut using the retired Starblast Edgelits (which accompanied Birthday Blast)

The corners are cut with the Curvy Trio punch and the small stars are punched out

of scrap pieces of Black card from the BB.

I hope to do a series of bit box cards, showing what super use you can make of it!!

What do you think??

More of Cheryl's Petal Passion Memories and More Cards

Morning all!

Way back in January, my friend and Stampin Up downline, Cheryl,

sent me a variety of cards that she had made using 

the Petal Passion Memories and More Card Pack, and I blogged one of the for you.

I promised to show you some more, but have only just remembered!

So here's a couple more of her samples!

Thanks for sharing these Cheryl, really must get mine out and make a start with them!!

Matt's Birthday card

It's my niece Heather's partner, Matt's birthday on the 13th

and this is the card I have made for him.

It's one that I made when Chris was here on Wednesday

and the design is cased from Sarah Rayner.

I have used retired Stampin Up DSP,  it's from the 2009/2010 catalogue!!

Do you remember this?

It's great for a man's card, and I made a resolution to use up old DSP

and I have made a few cards up to now using retired papers.

I can safely post this on my blog today, as Matts not into craft blogs at all!!

Anyhow, Happy Birthday for next Friday Matt!!

Chris's card

Here's one of the cards Chris made on Wednesday

Once again she used the Tailors Tag punch to cut the shapes from the Fresh Florals DSP

-think this looks really clean and classy.

This is in Berry Burst, lovely and vibrant dont you think?

Tailored Tag Punch card

Yesterday Chris came over  for our weekly get together.

We made four different cards today using the Tailored Tag Punch.

Here's one of them

Basis colour combo of Pool Party and White

For the scene itself we used the Waterfront stamp set

and the sentiment is from the Birthday Bouquet stamp set.

I love the mosaic effect!!

I'll post the others over the course of the next week....

Watch this space!!

Mary and Pete's Golden Wedding Anniversary!

 On Friday it was our Golfing friends Mary and Pete's Golden Wedding Anniversary.

To mark the occasion I  made them this card.

We've not played golf with them yet this year, mainly because of the weather,

but look forward to putting that right as soon as the weather picks up

 and the snow disappears - again!!

Happy Birthday Hayden

Today it's my Great-nephew Hayden's birthday and he will be 4 years old!

How time flies!!

Here's the card that I have made for him.

It was made using mainly free Sale-a-bration free items,

i.e. the Party Pandas stamp set and the balloons are punched out of 

the Myths and Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer papers.

Happy Birthday Hayden!

xxx

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Well as the title says - Happy Easter everyone!

It's just a month exactly since my last posting.  Which is terrible really, however,

if I might explain...

Barry and I went away (with sister and brother-in-law Maggie and Gerald) to Lanzarote in January,

for a six week break in warmer climes!

During this time I had scheduled posts on my blog for the time I was away.

We came home on March 2nd after a long delayed flight, due to the bad weather in the UK.

The following Monday (5th March) Barry was involved in a very bad accident, 

where a fire engine came through a red light at crossroads and sideswiped Barry's car, 

shunting it sideways up the road for some 50 yards.

Needless to say, the car has been deemed a write off, and Barry is lucky to be alive!!

Cars can be replaced!! Barry was lucky to survive this, with internal bruising and more

than a little discomfort and stress to say the least, but at least no broken bones.

So the past few weeks have been spent sorting out everything that needed to be done,

and we now only have the one car, which for the time being we are sharing!

So I am trying now to get back into a normal routine, which is still hampered by the weather!!

I haven't played golf this year - can you believe that!!

So roll on the real Spring weather and warmer temperatures!!

Hope to be seen on a more regular basis now!!

Watch this space.......