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Thursday 28 February 2013

Easter Lamb


This is a really simple treat holder for one of those chocolate lambs that are on sale for Easter. I measured the packets height, width and depth and cut a piece of cardstock a little bigger than the width, and a little bigger than twice the height plus the depth. This was then scored to give the base, and a large Scallop Circle added to the front before running through the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing folder. The lamb was made with the Scallop Circle, Oval, Boho Blossoms, Circles and Word Window punches. To finish the treat holder the chocolate lamb was fixed into the holder with glue dots and then 2 holes punched in the top with a bow of Bakers Twine to hold it together.
If I can get some time to take photos whilst it's light I'll be back tomorrow with some more Easter Treat Holders.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

It's good to be green!


A very quick post today and a change from paper piercing, although I have to admit I've made a couple more since my LIM entries!! I've been playing around with treat holders for Easter all made with the Two Tags die and here is my frog. I used the die along with Ovals, Circles and the Boho Blossoms punches to make a holder for a Freddo chocolate bar and he's holding a little tag made with a stamp from Tiny Tags cut with the Jewelry Tag punch and tied with a piece of Bakers Twine.
This die is proving to be very versatile as I've made several different holders for those little gold chocolate bunnies which seem to be gracing the shelves of my local supermarket in abundance. I'll be back to show you those another day but until then happy crafting!

Monday 25 February 2013

More Paper Piercing


I did tell you I was getting carried away with the LIM paper piercing challenge so here is my third card and I promise it's my last!!
This time I used the shape of the Modern Label punch to pierce (again in the Essentials pack). The stamp in the centre is from Pretty Petites which was punched with the Petite Label punch, both of these are SAB freebies, and this was matted onto an Island Indigo Modern Label before fixing to the card with dimensionals. Just to add a bit of interest I pierced the two scalloped rows at the base of the Whisper White panel and added three of the larger Basic Pearls. Matted onto Island Indigo cardstock and a card blank and the card was finished.
If you would like to get your hands on some of the Sale-a-Bration freebies, or any other products, then please do not hesitate to contact me (details on the Contact me tab above)

No 'Thanks' to me!





Today I've got a beautiful box to show you which my sister made for my daughter - hence the 'no thanks to me' title as I can take absolutely no credit whatsoever! The box held some yummy chocolates which were probably eaten faster than it took to make the box :0)
The base (which you can't see) was made with Chocolate Chip cardstock and the lid with Chocolate Chip DSP from the Neutrals Paper Stack. A cameo of flowers and leaves were made with an Ovals Framelits, Little Leaves Sizzlits and the gorgeous Blossom Party dies in Chocolate Chip DSP, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock. The ribbon and sentiment are now both retired.
A lovely gift and one which, I have to say, I would appreciate the box more than the chocolates!!!
My sister has no idea that I'm posting this (in fact she doesn't even know I took the photos) and I'm sure she will be quite cross as, being a perfectionist Virgo, she is NEVER happy with anything she makes. However I cannot agree, in my opinion this is a gift that anyone would be thrilled to receive. If you would like to leave a comment they will be passed on!!!!

Sunday 24 February 2013

Less is More meets Simples Sunday (Take 2!)



Oh dear the LIM challenge of paper piercing has really got me going this weekend and two more cards have been ‘pierced’!! The one I am showing today is a very simple card so I thought I would combine it with my ‘Simples Sunday’ theme and give you two posts in one day. (Scroll down for the first one)
I started by cutting the largest circle from the Circles die and pierced all round using the circular piercing template which comes in the Essentials Piercing pack (a SAB freebie at the moment with any order over £45). I used Sahara Sand for both this and the card blank. The pierced circle was glued to the card blank and a sentiment (this particular one is from the retired Mixed Medley set) stamped in Early Espresso and punched with the 3/4” circle punch then matted onto a 11/4” Scallop Circle (also pierced). This was fixed onto the centre of the circle with a dimensional and a sentiment from Bring on the Cake added below.


Simples!!

Simples Sunday


My 'Simples Sunday' card this week is very minimal and uses Neutrals for it's colour scheme. The little butterfly from Bloomin' Marvelous (a SAB freebie) was stamped onto Very Vanilla in Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso, and then punched out with the Bitty Butterfly punch (available in the Spring Mini). A knot of Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon was fixed to a Crumb Cake panel and a sentiment, also from Bloomin' Marvelous, stamped in Early Espresso. The panel was fixed to a Neutrals Ivory card blank and the butterflies and basic pearls added - SIMPLES!

If you would like to purchase any of these, or any other, products then please contact me. You can find my details on the 'Contact me' tab at the top of the page.
Maybe you are considering becoming a demonstrator yourself - if so then now is the time to take the plunge. During SAB the starter kit is 25% bigger, a massive £162.50 worth of product for only £99. If you would like a no-obligation chat about being a demonstrator then please feel free to give me a call.

Saturday 23 February 2013

Paper Piercing

 

When I saw this week's challenge at Less is More was Paper Piercing it gave me the perfect excuse to play with the Essentials Paper Piercing pack which I got free in the Sale-a-Bration promotion. When I read the challenge I knew exactly what I wanted to do but would the sentiment fit? The answer - yes perfectly!! I started by paper piercing a piece of Whisper White cardstock and then, using my stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped the 'Mr&Mrs' stamp and the congratulations (from Love & Laughter) in Versamark and silver embossed them. This is where something simple became complicated - I had 3 attempts at this before getting one I was happy with because, for some unknown reason, I kept smudging it!!! Anyway finally I matted the panel onto Brushed Silver cardstock and then onto a card blank before adding two tiny flowers with a Basic Rhinestone centre. A CAS card which could be used for either a wedding or Anniversary card. Not happy with stopping there I made another, completely different, card which thankfully worked first time.

I used the heart template to paper pierce two intertwining hearts and added two sentiments from Petite Pairs in Rich Razzleberry, this was matted onto Rich Razzleberry cardstock then on to one side of a card blank. Some small hearts, from the Owl Builder punch, were added down the side.

Well it's trying VERY hard to snow here at the moment and it's bitterly cold so, whatever you are doing this weekend, keep warm and have a good one x






Friday 22 February 2013

Golden Wedding




Today's card is one I've been asked to make for a Golden Wedding Anniversary. I used the flourish stamps from Wedding Sweet and gold embossed them onto Whisper White cardstock. The sentiment is from Memorable Moments and this is also gold embossed. I made the little flowers from Brushed Gold cardstock, punched with one of the Itty Bitty Shapes punches, and placed one of the smallest Basic Pearls in their centres. The ribbon was taken from my stash as, sadly, SU do not make a gold ribbon (as yet!). The panel was matted onto Brushed Gold cardstock and then onto an A5 card blank. I made a box to put the card in, which was made from non-SU white card, with ovals punched for handles and a Scallop Oval trim. The sentiment from Love & Laughter was gold embossed and punched with the Decorative Label punch, matted onto a Brushed Gold Decorative Label which had been cut in half. Three white flowers and some Basic Pearls were added.
Well it's Friday again and the weekend will soon be upon us - have a good one and come back soon x

Thursday 21 February 2013

Good Luck Tom


I have made this card for the son of a very good friend and work colleague who, tomorrow, is a regional finalist in the Future Chef competition. The competition is for 12-16 year olds and Tom has done exceptionally well as he is only 13 so is one of the younger entrants. If he wins tomorrow he will be in the national finals so we've got everything crossed for him.
The card was made in a bit of a hurry last night, hence the rubbish photo as I had to take it in artificial light, and was made very simply by cutting a piece of Not Quite Navy DSP into an apron shape with a piece glued on top for the pocket. The stitching was added with a white marker pen and some retired Whisper White grosgrain ribbon added for the ties. The name was cut with the retired Timeless Type Alphabet dies.
Good luck Tom!!!

Monday 18 February 2013



This was a wedding card & bag I made a few weeks ago but couldn't show you until after the wedding on Saturday! The colour scheme was Ivory, Gold & Chocolate Brown so SU colours fitted perfectly. Some of the products used are now retired so I won't go into detail but you get the idea. The sentiments, on both the inside and outside of the card and the one on the bag, were gold embossed and some of the little hearts were punched from Brushed Gold cardstock. The bride's Mum also made up 100 favour boxes in the same colour scheme which I had pre-cut using Very Vanilla and the Pillow Box die. After all the horrible weather we've had lately they certainly had a lovely day for it. No doubt I will hear all about it from a very proud Mum when I return to work !


Sunday 17 February 2013

Simples Sunday x 2

Can you believe it's Sunday again -where has that week gone??
Well I have 2 cards to show you this week using graduated colours, not CASE'd but inspired by several talented demo's out there in blogland.

Both using Sale-a-Bration freebies - the Bloomin' Marvelous & Pretty Petites stamp sets,the Ribbon & Button pack (although I didn't use any buttons!!) and the Petite Curly Label punch.

For the top card I used the butterfly stamp with Pool Party, Tempting Turquoise and Island Indigo and Basic Rhinestones. The sentiment is from Petite Pairs and if you would like to know how the 'label' was made see at the end of the post.

The bottom card uses the flower and leaf stamps with So Saffron, Coral Calypso and Cajun Craze.

For both cards I inked the stamp in the lightest colour first, stamped then stamped again for an even lighter colour then proceeded stamping the other two colours. The Certainly Celery leaves on the bottom card were stamped off first as I only wanted a very light image.
Now back to that label. I stamped the sentiment onto Whisper White and punched out with the Decorative Label punch. This was then inserted back into the punch and cut again. The Island Indigo was done in the same way but using the punch the other way round. Very difficult to describe in words but I hope you can see what I mean from the photos below.


Well that seemed to be a very long post today and I'm sure it took me longer to write this than to actually make both cards!! Simple to make but, it would appear, not so simple to explain!!!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend and come back soon x






Saturday 16 February 2013

Up in the Air - take 2

 

After making my first card for the Less is More challenge - Up in the Air (see previous post) I had sudden inspiration, something which doesn't seem to happen too often just lately! So here is my second entry of the day.
I used a stamp from Build a Blossom for the balloons and stamped them in Island Indigo and Pool Party. The baskets were made with a stamp from Create a Cupcake stamped in Crumb Cake and, after drawing the ropes in with a marker pen, I lightly sponged the sky with Bashful Blue and stamped some clouds (you can't see them very well on the photo but that is possibly a good thing as my white Staz-on seems to be very yellowy). The bows, clouds and 'sprinkles' on the balloons are also stamps from Create a Cupcake and the sentiment is from Made for You. This was matted onto a piece of Island Indigo cardstock and then onto a DL card blank to give that all-important white space.
Enjoy the weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with another 'Simples Sunday' card.




Up in the Air

 

Saturday is upon us once again and of course that means the Less is More challenge which, this week, is 'Up in the Air'. My first thought was the bunny in a balloon from the set Everybunny so, as Easter is not too far away, that is what I used for my entry.
I started by stamping the trees from Lovely as a Tree at the bottom of a piece of Whisper White, stamped in Old Olive and then stamped again without re-inking. The balloon image was stamped in Staz-on and then, after placing a post-it note mask over the top of the image, the panel was sponged with a little Certainly Celery under the trees and Bashful Blue for the sky. The mask was removed and the image coloured with marker pens. My poor Easter Bunny looks like he may be suffering from ear problems and that's because I picked up the wrong pink marker so it was a bit brighter than I intended!!!
The panel was matted onto Daffodil Delight and then onto a white card blank. Originally I stamped a sentiment and cut it out with one of the Bitty Banners Framelits to fly from the strings of the balloon but then took it off because I preferred it without. What do you think? I might stamp a sentiment directly onto the card or leave the front as it is and put the sentiment inside - 
decisions, decisions :0)


Friday 15 February 2013

A little bit of Sponging


For today's card I used the scrap left over from a card I made with the Labels Collection Framelits. After cutting out the label you are left with a piece of card with an aperture so why not put it to good use?
I positioned this onto a piece of Whisper White, fixed down with post-its, and then sponged the aperture with Raspberry Ripple ink. I deliberately gave it a lighter touch towards the centre to add a bit of depth. Once this was done I cut another aperture, this time in copy paper, and placed over the sponged area before stamping an image from Summer Silhouettes in Basic Black. (A little tip: I find that when you are stamping with a mask if you use copy paper rather than cardstock, your image stamps much closer to the edge). The panel was then matted onto cardstock - which was SUPPOSED to be Primrose Petals but turned out to be Rose Red (I really must sort my scraps box out!!) - some Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin ribbon and a sentiment from Bring on the Cake added before fixing to a plain white card blank.
Well yesterday saw me confined to bed, a little tummy bug came to visit in the early hours of Thursday morning and rendered me useless for the rest of yesterday. I don't remember the last time I slept so much!! Very annoying, not least because I had a group of ladies coming for a crafting session who I had to hurriedly phone yesterday morning to cancel. Am a lot better today apart from feeling like I've been kicked around a field by a group of rugby players!!!

Thursday 14 February 2013

Music for LIM



Whilst having a bit of a clear out in my craftroom I came across a piece of this cardstock, from the Natural Composition Speciality Designer Papers, and thought I would experiment. This paper (which is definitely more like cardstock) is one of those packs that you don't want to use because it's too nice so I haven't tried to do anything much with it before. It is a Kraft cardstock, clear embossed on one side in different designs (if you look carefully at the larger photo, you can just make out the embossing on the right hand side), so I was unsure whether you could stamp on it or not. Only one way to find out and, as it was the design with the music on it, I thought Less is More! In all honesty I hadn't even remembered there was a music design in the pack until I saw Vicky's entry last weekend (you can her lovely card here).
As you can probably tell, this took about 2 minutes to make and is in no way a show stopper but I just wanted to share, in case you didn't know, that yes you can stamp on it!
The sentiment is from the retired Happiest Birthday Wishes stamped in Basic Black and the 'nephew' is from For my Family. I know it should be 'happy birthday TO you' but try singing it, 'dear you' still works :0)
As the challenge is a one layer card I have left it like this but I think I will now cut it down and layer it onto a Neutrals Ivory card base as I think it looks a bit stark as it is.

Edited to add: After writing this yesterday and scheduling it to post today, I spent 5 minutes layering it up. In my opinion it looks a tad better now!

Wednesday 13 February 2013

Butterfly Sponging


If you are a regular visitor to my blog I'm sure you'll know by now that I'm a 'plain and simple' girl (in more ways than one!!!) so today's card is not my usual style but, sometimes, you just have to push the boat out a little.
Not a quick card by any means but a good one if you need to take your mind off other things for a while!
I started by cutting the large butterfly form the Beautiful Buttterflies Bigz die in both cardstock and copy paper. Using the card mask, I fixed this to a piece of Whisper White with post-its and sponged through the aperture with Wisteria Wonder. After removing this mask I positioned the paper mask over the image (again fixing with post-its) and pressed down onto the En Francais background stamp which had been inked with Elegant Eggplant.
This is where my design changed - I was going to use the sponged & stamped butterfly as the panel but it looked a little flat so instead I carefully cut this out using sharp paper snips. I then repeated the sponging step onto another piece of Whisper White but this time using Elegant Eggplant. The cut butterfly was then positioned on top of this image using a thin line of wet glue down the centre of the body, to enable the wings to be folded upwards, and some Basic Pearls added.
I won't bore you to death by explaining how the card was put together as it's self-explanatory but the Elegant Eggplant cardstock panel was stamped with the butterfly from Bloomin' Marvelous, the sentiment is from Curly Cute and the ribbon is Wisteria Wonder Ruffled ribbon.
I apologise for the lack of posts this week but, because I have been busy making things, I've been too busy too blog!!! Hopefully I'll have a lot to show you next week :0)

Sunday 10 February 2013

'Simples Sunday'


Well here is the first of my 'Simples Sunday' posts - and not a meerkat in sight!

The background is a panel of Whisper White, embossed with the Honeycomb Folder, and matted onto Old Olive cardstock. A piece of retired ribbon was placed across the card leaving a loop at one end and two branches, cut with the Little Leaves Sizzlits die, positioned onto the card. The Sassy Salutations sentiment was stamped onto Whisper White, the corners rounded, and matted onto Old Olive cardstock and then placed on top of the ribbon. Easy peasy!

Well it's half term this week so, hopefully, a bit more time for crafting :0) Back soon x

Saturday 9 February 2013

One Layer Music


A bit late with my entry this week for the Less is More challenge, which is a 'One Layer - Music' card, although better late than never as they say!
Now the only thing I have which is anything to do with music is the Music Notes wheel so I was trying to think of a song title to use as a sentiment - no luck until I stumbled across this one from Made for You. Singing away to myself I couldn't remember who sang it and then it came to me - Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. I have just found out, by doing a Google search, that this was actually recorded in 1988 and am now feeling very, very old!!!!
Anyway on to the card - I know this may look as though I have cheated with the 'one layer' but I haven't - honestly. I decided to use a technique which I showed you a while ago and, which I believe, is called 'Quick and Easy Focal Points'. I started by cutting the sticky piece of a post-it note in a rectangle 2cm x 5cm and placed this onto a plain white card blank before stamping across the card with the Music Notes wheel in Basic Black. I removed the mask, drew a solid line around the box with a Basic Black marker pen and then stamped the sentiment inside the box using my Stamp-a-ma-Jig. I added a tiny rhinestone to the 'i' just to add a little something (you are allowed minimal embellishments to a one layer card challenge and they don't come much more minimal than this!!).
Thank you for taking the time to visit and do come back tomorrow for the very first of my 'Simples Sunday' cards. x

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Simples!


Still going with the neutrals and yes, using my favourite stamp set again, I made this card for a friends birthday. As the card needed to be posted I could not go with too many raised embellishments so I went down the 'simples' route. (I really like the sound of that so maybe, when I get myself organised, I will do a weekly 'simples' post, how does 'Simples Sunday' sound??)
I used a sentiment from Sassy Salutations and, because of the boldness of this font, I think you can allow it to take centre stage. (It's getting better - Sassy Salutations Simples Sunday :0) !!!)
I inked the seed head stamp, from Summer Silhouettes, with Chocolate Chip and stamped off before stamping a row along the bottom of a piece of Very Vanilla and then stamped the sentiment. The banner was made with 2 strips of cardstock, shaped into a V at one end, this was glued to the card before adding another small sentiment (now retired) punched with the Word Window punch. This was then matted onto Chocolate Chip cardstock and then onto a Naturals Ivory card blank, the addition of a few Basic Pearls finished the card off.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Masculine Tri-Fold


This is the card I have made for my Dad, who will be 91 next week!! I always struggle with cards for men but the French Foliage stamp set saves me every time. I decided to make a tri-fold card for a change and used Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla for the colour scheme. The stamped panel is Chocolate Chip DSP, from the Neutrals Paper Stack, and the leaves were inked with Chocolate Chip and stamped off before stamping onto the DSP. The sentiment is from Made for You and the 'dad' is from the For My Family set. I added a knot of Bakers Twine below the sentiment which had been punched with the Curly Label punch and inked around the edges.

Monday 4 February 2013

Matching Set


























Back to my favourite stamp set, Summer Silhouettes, along with two of my favourite colours - Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive.
This is a birthday set I made for my daughter-in-law whose birthday was a couple of weeks ago but, because of the awful weather we had, I've only just managed to get it to her!
The card is self explanatory really and the sentiment is a stamp from the Made for You stamp set (a set of 3 sentiments, the other two are 'especially for you' and thank you' for just £10.95 wood mount and £8.95 clear mount). The photo top right shows some matching gift wrap I made for a box of chocolate mints and the bottom photo shows a box to hold three little bottles of bath products.

Sunday 3 February 2013

From a Friend



I wanted to share a card and gift with you today that I received from a friend, all made with SU products of course!!

This beautiful card is made using the Just Believe stamp set and various punches, and the gorgeous colour scheme is Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant.
The pretty little butterflies are diecut with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit and the sentiment is from a retired set.
Scroll down a little to see the pressie!


A scrummy box of chocolates beautifully wrapped using brown paper which had been stamped with the retired Baroque Motifs stamp, again in Elegant Eggplant. The tag is stamped with a stamp from Mixed Medley, a set which was in the Autumn/Winter Mini, punched with a circle punch and matted onto a Scallop Circle. We always laugh at Maureen because she finds 'random stamping' very difficult but, I'm sure you'll agree, she's done a fabulous job here!
Thank you Maureen they are both lovely, and very much appreciated x

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