Bee Thankful -Thank You card

Lexie had a sleepover at ours Sunday night and we watched a Harry Potter DVD

in the evening and  spent the best part of yesterday crafting.

I stamped some Thank you cards and Lexie coloured them in with 

Watercolour pencils. I then matted and layered them onto base cards.

Here's one of them

Bee Thankful is the stamp used here -

I think its great for quick thank you cards, especially if Lexie

does the colouring in!!
May set her on regularly!!

Tracy's Birthday

Today is the birthday of my Stampin Up friend and downline, Tracy.

She has just recently rejoined Stampin Up , so as well as this card

 I sent her a little bag of goodies for her to play with as a welcome !!

A very CAS card, but I just adore these Petal Promenade papers so much
you dont need too much else on the card, I have jyst used a
Stitched Labels Framelit die to stamp the sentiment on and put a small piece of Blackberry Bliss card stock behind it.

Happy Birthday Tracy - have a great day!!

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Two mens' bit box cards

I try to make a card a day for my Charity Cards for Causes box,

here are two mens' cards that I made this morning!!

The paper used was half a sheet of 12 x 12 DSP, 

I cant remember where it came from , but the colours took my eye 

and I liked the geometric pattern, which I set about adding

geometric patterns and shapes to make it more interesting.

All the circles, angles and stripes were stamped in Soft Suede ink, 

as was the sentiment above from Vertical Greetings

and on this one the sentiments are from Soft Sayings .

I am so pleased I didn't throw this paper away!!

Another Baby Boy's card

Here's the card that I sent to Danny and Jenny, just from me.

It's designed by Australian Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - 

 Bronwyn Eastley from Addinktive designs 

and if you would like the instructions, they can be

purchased from her website 

HERE

I have purchased quite a few of her tutorials and they are worth every cent!!

Card open for display

Card closed for posting

View from above showing construction

I am really pleased with this card and was sad to part with it,

 but I am sure that Danny and Jenny appreciated it, 

and as I have Bronwyns tutorial, I can do it again -

maybe next time in Pink!!

PS Carol has started a baby girl card as this mornings monthly workshop,
so I'll get her to send me a photo of her pink version to show you!!

Cheryl's Workshop cards

Thought you might like to see three of the cards that Cheryl made 

at last months Saturday Morning workshop.

These are all made using the Springtime Impressions Thinlits dies.

Three variations using one die -

the butterfly is from the same set.

Another of Chris's bit box cards

Well both Chris and me are determined that we are going to use up

 the bits of  DSP and card that tend to accumulate after card making sessions.

Chris has even done a class with her ladies, to give them some ideas of

how to make the smallest scraps of  paper into things of beauty!!

Here's one of them 

A couple of scraps of Eastern Palace Speciality  DSP (retired)

a scrap of matching card a few Rhinestones and the sentiment

stamped onto a  Stitched Labels Framelit diecut.

No one would guess that these bits could so easily have been thrown in the bin!

Great card Chris!

Little Girls birthday card

A friend called round the other day, wanting a card for that afternoon 

as her grand-daughter had been invited to a Birthday Tea  that day. 

As I didn't have time to make one I offered her a few choices of cards 

from my Cards for Causes Charity box and she chose this one.  

I offered to put a number three on this, but she didnt have time to wait!

She was quite happy that she had a card and my Bluebell Wood

Charity box has benefited at the same time!!

Sue's Birthday today

Today is the birthday of one of the Thursday Class ladies - Sue, 

here's the card that I made for her.

The background is a piece of  Mulberry paper that hasSilver  butterflies and flowers on it -

you can see the silver on the photo, but don't think you can make out the pattern. 

I found an A4 sheet of it whilst I was rummaging around in my craft room,

 looking for something else and it took my eye - I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!!

This was layered onto  a black card mat, then layered onto a 7" x 5" White base card.

The sentiment is stamped in versamark and heat embossed with Silver Enbossing powder,

as are the little flower motifs.

I think that this looks rather elegant - dont you??

Happy Birthday Sue - have a great day!!

New Baby Card

Tuesday evenings you will usually find me at the Golf Club

as that's when the Waterfront Ladies' Academy get together, 

with the aim of improving our game under the watchful eye of the Pro - Danny.

He is so patient and I am pleased to say that my game has improved as a result.

We had our last lesson two weeks ago, as on the 5th, Danny's wife

gave birth to their second son - you can see all the details

on the card that I have made.  All the Tuesday ladies will sign this

and we will give it to Danny tomorrow evening with the money we have

 collected for them to buy something for Harry Thomas.

Bokeh Dots card

When I first opened this stamp set I have to say that I was a little disappointed 

as I expected the two stamps to be bigger, but once I started stamping with 

them I was really pleased with the result.

The Bokeh Dots background is stamped in Balmy  Blue ink,

Botanical Tags Thinlits dies  used for the rose and leaf , plus the small leaves.

Vertical Greetings stamp set used for the sentiment 

and the flower spray is from Love What You Do stamp set.

Yup, this is a great stamp set!

In case you had forgotten, you can see the other stamp in this set

HERE

(Nikki's 50th Birthday card)

CAS Men's Birthday card

It's one of our golfing friends, Vic's birthday today

and here's the card that I made for him.

A very CAS card, with what I would call a masculine colour combination.

Vic won't be reading this, but will still wish him

a Happy Birthday from Kate and Barry!

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Vellum and Brads - a blast from the past.

Well I have been sorting out my stash and came across some beautiful

printed Vellum and some fabulous retired Stampin' Up! Glimmer Brads

that are a perfect match!  So I have teamed these with Very Vanilla 

and Early Espresso cardstock and matching ribbon

The photo really doesnt do it justice, but take my word for it

-it is so pretty irl!!

Floral Frames

For this card design I watched a video on youtube,

then I decided that I wanted  to make it differently. 

Heres my version

Instead of stamping the frame directly onto the card,

 I stamped on a separate piece of card, coloured the image, then fussy cut

 the frame and stuck it onto the Soft Sea Foam mat.

I think this makes the image pop out.

The stamp set is Floral Frames with the matching Foliage Frame Freamelits dies.

Colour combo is Soft Sea Foam (background layer}

Leaves  -Tranquil Tide and Granny Apple Green

Flowers Berry Burst.

This is going in my special box -

so if you receive this- you nknow you are special!

Sad today

Received some sad news of one of our golfing friends,

 Ken, who passed away early this morning.

I had only made a sympathy card yesterday for my personal

occasions box, so glad I had one already made.

 I hope that it will give his wife Jean  some small comfort to know 

that we are thinking of her at this sad time.

Julie's Birthday

Today is one of my Wednesday Class ladies' birthday - Julie.

(I have several friends calle Julie - this one is Julie J!! 

as opposed to Julie K and Julkie W!)

Here's the card I made for Julie -

it's a variation on yesterdays card, a different orientation and sentiment.

Been to see her this afternoon to give her this card and a bouquet of flowers -

apparently its a very special birthday today, but I won't tell!!

Enjoy the rest of your day Julie!!

xx

Missing You!

Today I have been making some cards for causes and was sorting through

some papers that Chris had sent for the ladies to make cards for Charities with.

I came across the DSP shown below and thought how beautiful it was.

It's sort of Soft Suede, Sahara Sand and gold, so that was the

colour combo I decided to use with it. 

 I cut the Stitched Labels Framelit out of Sahara Sand card stock, 

 then stamped the sentiment from the Oh So Eclectic stampset

and the floral motifs onto this in Memento Black ink.

I used the same motif for the top left and bottom right corners.

I think this is just enough as the paper is so beautiful it doesn't need anything else.

This card is going into my own little stash of cards for occasions

and I will make it again for my Cards for Causes box!!

Z fold Bokeh Dots etc

Heres a Z fold card that one of my Tuesday Class ladies, Elizabeth, 

designed herself and made in class last week - we were both playing with

these stamp sets and tags!

Card flat for posting

Card stood for display

Elizabth used the Botanical Bliss bundle of stamps and  Tags Thinliets dies.

Her colour combo was Calypso Coral and White.

The right hand side panel was stamped with the Bokeh Dots stamp set.

Great design Elizabeth!

Blogaversary Candy - and the winner is.........

From this list of names....

Jackie

Laine

Linda

Katie

Janet

Em Louise

Nikky

Exciting

JayBe

Shabneez

Drawn by Hubby ........

it's

So if you would like to email me
at katemartin@sky.com with your address Jackie,
 I will get your little parcel of goodies in the post on Monday!

Thanks everyone for taking part!!

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Garden Impressions suite Gap Card

Chris and I got together on Wednesday and made 3 cards,

this is one of them

The nature of the construction of these gap  cards doesnt lend itself

to good photographs, above is a front view

and here is the side view, which gives a better view of how its constructed.

We used Garden Impressions 6 x 6 DSP

Soft Sea Foam for the card base

Stitched labels Framelits die cut in Very Vanilla Thick card for the joining piece,

which was stamped using the Abstract Impressions stamp set.

I have deliberately left this card without a greeting so that 

it can be used as and when a suitable occasion arises - a just in case card!!

Thanks for bringing your stamp set so that I could have a play Chris!

Enjoyed making this.

Nikki's 30th

Today is one of my Wednesday Class ladies - Nikki's 30th birthday,

 so I wanted to make a special card for her.

Here it is

The central image is stamped using the Bokeh Dots stamp set 

in Highland Heather ink on Whisper White cardstock.

This is then layered onto Highland Heather cardstock,

which in tirn is layered onto Gorgeous Grape cardstock.

The stamped flowers are from the Love What you Do stamp set

and are stamped in Memento Black ink, then coloured in with 

Gorgeous Grape ink and a waterbrush.

The numbers are die cut using the retired Little Numbers dies.

The Rose and leaf die cut in Gorgeous Grape is cut using 

 Botanical Tags Thinlits dies, as are the Black leaves.

The greeting is from Vertical Greetings Stamp set.

I am really pleased with this design, hope that Nikki likes it too!!

Happy Birthday Nikki - have a great day!!

A Retirement celebration

On Saturday evening Barry and I attended a Retirement Celebration Dinner.

It was for Tony the Chef at Eastgate Masonic Hall who is retiring

 after more than 40 years of service. His last day of work was yesterday.

It made a change for Tony to sit down and be waited on to eat a meal

that he hadn't cooked at Eastgate, and he enjoyed the occasion.

Here's the card I made for him.

..... and there was a surprise in store for me too -

I was invited to take the flowers off our table!

A perfect end to a perfect evening!!

All the best for a long  and happy retirement Tony!!

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100th blog post today! Blog candy!

Well its day 100 of continuous blogging this year since I resumed

a daily blog posting on 2nd April this year.

To celebrate this I have made a card, 

which I will post out, along with a few selected crafting goodies,

 to the person  whose name is drawn out of the hat on Friday.

To be in the draw, simply leave a comment on this post between now and Friday.

I will get hubby to draw the name and post the result on here on Saturday.

Remember, you've got to be in it to win it!!  Good luck!!

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Simon's Birthday today!

Today is my Son, Simon's birthday.

He is a Leeds United Football Supporter,

 so I made him a card in their team colours.!!

Double Z fold card stood up for display

Card folded flat for posting

View from above showing Double Z fold.

Happy Birthday Son!  

Have a great day!!

xxxx

Yuki's Birthday card

My friend Yuki is a Stampin Up Demonstrator who lives in Japan.

We became friends when I met her at a Stamping class that I held 

at a community centre in Barnsley when she was living over here 

with her husband and sons, and we became good friends.

She became a Stampin Up demonstrator whilst living in the UK and was my downline.

When her husbands job took them back to Japan, she had to resign as a Demo,

 but since then Stampin Up has opened a market in Japan and Yuki

is once again an active Demonstrator.  The choice that they have over there

is somewhat limited, but Yuki loves it anyhow!

You may recall that the other week there was an earthquake in Osaka, 

which is where Yuki lives, but I was able to find out, 

to my relief, from Facebook,  that she and her family were safe.

Yuki shares her birthday with my son, 9th July, so you may think that this card is early,

 but as Japan is 8 hours ahead of us, I can safely post the card that I sent her

as it is 00.05 in Japan on the 2nd July now and officially her birthday.

Here's my card to her

This card uses the Serene Garden stamp set with matching Garden Scene Framelits Dies.

Inks used are Mint Macaron and Night of Navy.

I used Wink of Stella on the flowers and butterflies, but  am not

sure that youn can see this on the photo.

The sentiment is from Soft Sayings.

So, without further ado........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUKI

Have a super day!!

A card for Jackie

Yesterday I went to visit my good friend Jackie who has been

in and out of hospital several times since the middle of February,

when she had a scheduled heart operation, but since then has suffered

various setbacks.  She is currently at home in their 2nd floor apartment,

but sadly cannot manage the stairs.  

Her hubby alwasys makes lunch for us both when I visit,

and yesterday was no different - an absolutely scrumptious lunch including dessert!

 I took her this card to cheer her up

She loved it!!

Jane's biirthday

Today is the birthday of my sister in law Jane -

and heres the card I made for her.

Colour Combo of Mint Macaron and Balmy Blue with White.
Share What You Love Speciality DSP.
Happy Birthday sentiment from Beautiful Bouquet stamp set
Jane - individual letters from Make a Difference stamp set
Botanical Tags Thinlits dies (Rose tag)

Happy Birthday Jane!!
Have a great day!
xxx

Eileen's birthday card

Eileens Birthday is actually tomorrow, 

and because its a shared birthday I am posting this card a day early .

 I know that Eileen is not a crafter and will never look at a craft blog - 

so I am quite safe posting this today without spoiling the surprise!

This is another bit box piece of retired DSP,

matched up with Calypso Coral card stock and ribbon,

and  a die cut Beautiful Layers thinlit.

Have a lovely day Eileen!!

Katy's birthday card

Well it's a busy month for birthdays again, today its my hairdresser

Katy's birthday, here's the card I made for her.

Its a combination of old and new elements.
Something old, retired DSP from Bit box
Something new - Highland Heather cardstock and inkpad
for flower spray from Beautiful Promenade stamp set
and  sentiment from Beautiful Bouquet stamp set .
These stamped onto a Stitched Labels Framelit.
Happy Birthday Katy - dont work too hard today will you!!

Julie's birthday

Today is the birthday of my Stampin' Up! Mummy

Julie Kettlewell

Here's the card that I have made for this very special person

who has helped and guided me on my Stampin Up Journey for almost 9 years!!

I have used my favourite new colour (again!) on this card, Highland Heather

-cardstock for the diecut Happy Birthday, the 6"x 6" base card

and ink to colour the diecut flowers cut with the Petals and More Thinlits die.

The leaves were also coloured with Granny Green Ink and a sponge dauber.

The flower sprays were cut from each corner of the white card layer, colour sponged

onto each one. then these were placed back into the card and stuck into place

on the reverse with double sided tape.  This leaves the front of the flowers 

with sticky middles, which I then covered in Dazzling Diamonds glitter,

 pressed down, then shook off the excess.

This white layer is then stuck onto the Base card.

I think that you may be able to see the glitter on this picture!!

Have a wonderful Birthday Julie,

grateful thanks for all you have done over the years - truly appreciated xx

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Today is the birthday of my Sister-in-law, and best friend, Chris,

who you have heard about often, as we get together every week (almost)

and spend a few hours crafting together.

Here is the special card that I have made for her
(for her very special birthday - but I resisted putting her age on it).

I cased the design in part from the catalogue but used different colours and DSP.

I have used the absolutely beautiful Petal Promenade DSP

cut using the Triple Banner Punch

Blushing Bride and Whisper White cardstock

Botanical Bliss stamp set and matching 

Botanical Tags Thinlits dies for the roses with leaves

Stitched Framelits oval die

Fresh Fig stamp pad  for sentiment

Versamark and Gold embossing powder for stamped leaves

and Gold Glimmer paper for die cut leaves

I am so pleased with this and I think that Chris will be too

Jan's birthday card

Today is our friend Jan's birthday and here's the card I have made for her.

Colour combination of Highland Heather (new) and Granny Apple Green (new)

on a White card with a Highland Heather mat underneath, 

bith layered onto a White 7" x 5" card base.

Greetings from the Soft Sayings stamp set

Flowers and leaves from Serene Garden.

I used my Stamparatus to make this card and was able to make 

several others to go into my Charity card box, saving me loads of time.

It really does make batch card making easy peasy!!

Happy Birthday Jan - Have a great day!!