LIM - Diecuts

The ladies at LIM are asking for 'Diecuts' this week and this is my entry. A simple card (put together quite quickly!) using the Circles Collection Framelits and the Beautiful Wings Bigz die. I chose Pistachio Pudding, Pink Pirouette and Whisper White for the colour scheme, one of the butterflies cut from Vellum cardstock, the ribbon is the Stretch Ruffle Trim and the sentiment is from Bring on the Cake.

Have a great weekend and try to stay dry!!

Margaret x

Me & My Shadow!

Today's LIM challenge is Shadow Stamping and it also needs to be a one layer card. Here are two cards that I have made very quickly this morning using the same stamp set, Hopeful Thoughts.
I have used the re-stamping technique for both cards and by that I mean I stamped the image twice without re-inking which gives a lighter image on the second stamping.

The card on the left was stamped in Basic Black and the sentiment is also from Hopeful Thoughts.






This card on the right was stamped using Old Olive and a sentiment from Bring on the Cake. I also added a bit of Gorgeous Grunge to this one!

We've had some gorgeous weather here this week and, being on holiday, I have managed to turn my garden from a wilderness into something a bit more respectable over the last couple of days. Still a lot more to do but I'm getting there :0)

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing and I'll be back soon

Margaret x

Birthday Duo

Yesterday was the birthday of a friend who is going through a bit of a tough time at the moment so is in real need of a bit of cheering up.
I made this matching card and gift wallet for her using some of the new products in the Spring catalogue alongside some current main catalogue goodies.
The card was made using Wisteria Wonder DSP from the Subtles Paper Stack. flowers from Petite Petals punched with the co-ordinating punch, a sentiment from Sassy Salutations and a piece of Whisper White Taffeta ribbon.



The wallet contains a Stampin'Up! gift voucher and was made using the Envelope Punch Board and the new Scallop Tag Topper Punch.
The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake punched with the Large Oval and matted onto a Scallop Oval

Margaret x

Gift set

My apologies for the lack of posts recently but I am trying to get back into the 'work' routine after quite a long Christmas break! Being back at work also means I see very little daylight for taking photos so today's set has been taken using a daylight lamp and I don't think they've turned out too badly.


This is a little thank you gift set I have made using some retired Twitterpated DSP and Island Indigo ribbon but the cardstock and 'tools' are all current.
The chocolate bar treat holder below was made using the Envelope Punch Board, the tag with a new punch coming soon - the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch.



The matching card above was made with the same supplies but, this time, the Tag Topper Punch was used for a decorative panel on the card and layered with the DSP, also shaped using the punch. The tiny flowers on both the treat holder and the card were punched with one of the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack and have a Basic Rhinestone added to the centre.

Hopefully I won't be away for so long next time :0)

Thanks for stopping by

      Margaret x

Happy New Year

Well Christmas is over for another year and I hope you all had a good one. This is a New Year card I made after taking inspiration from the very talented Jenni Pauli (her cards can be seen here). I love her style of cards and I get so many ideas from visiting her blog.
This is made using Crumb Cake cardstock for both the blank and the mat along with a little Very Vanilla. The numbers are cut using the Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die and the 'happy' is from Bring on the Cake. The card is finished off with a few Basic Pearls scattered around. This card is now winging it's way to a very lovely lady so I hope she doesn't peek on here before it arrives!!
All that remains if for me to wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year and I'll be back soon

Margaret x

Little Girls Card

The last of my commissioned cards was one for the sister of yesterdays new baby! I used an image from the retired set, Everybunny, stamped in Staz-on and coloured with a blender pen. This was then punched with a Circle Punch and matted onto a Wisteria Wonder Scallop Circle. The '3' was cut from the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies (also retired) and the sentiment is from Bring on the Cake. A few Pink Pirouette butterflies cut from the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die were added just because a little girl has to have some pink!!

Margaret x

Gift Set

This is a gift set I made for a friend's birthday last week - a box to hold some M&S Bath Fizzers and a matching card. The inspiration for the design actually came from the gift itself as the bath fizzers had a honeycomb pattern on them and were in a black and cream hexagonal box. So no choice but to use the Hexagon Punch and Embossing Folder!!
The DSP is from Modern Medley, sentiment on the box is from Bring on the Cake and the sentiment on the card is one from Perfectly Penned. The ribbon is Basic Black Satin now retired.

Margaret x

Cards in a Gift Box

This is a gift I made for a friend and work colleague who left at the end of term. The box held six 4" square cards (below) and was made with Naturals White cardstock teamed with Summer Starfruit. I decorated the box with flowers from Flower Shop and the Pansy Punch, leaves from the Bird Builder Punch, sentiment from Bring on the Cake and butterflies stamped with Papillon Potpourri and punched with the Elegant Butterfly and Itty Bitty Butterfly punches. I tied the box with Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon

The two cards below used Stippled Blossoms (left) and DSP punched with the Hexagon Punch (right)

These two used the Artisan Label and Dotted Scallop Ribbon punches (left) and Flower Shop with a sentiment from Perfectly Penned (right)

And these two use Scallop Circle and Bitty Butterfly punches with a sentiment from Four You (left) and the Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder, Mosaic Madness stamp set and an Itty Bitty Shapes punch (right).

Finally my card to give with the set, which matched the box.

Pop back tomorrow and I will show you a very similar set I made for another friend but with a different colour combo

                            Margaret x

Treat Box & Matching Card

Today's post is a little box to give as a 'token' gift to a friend and of course I had to make a matching card to go with it! I was inpired to make this after watching a YouTube video made by Sam at Pootles Papercraft (the video is here). I say 'inspired' because I have made several of these boxes in the past but have forgotten about them recently so, thanks Sam for jogging my memory. I altered the dimensions of the box as I wanted it to fit 4 packets of the recipients favourite sweets and the box that Sam made wasn't big enough. 

I used Basic Black for the box and teamed it with the gorgeous new Smoky Slate DSP and Chevron Ribbon. Both sentiments are from Bring on the Cake.            These are the sweets ------->

 Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back tomorrow with a box of cards

Margaret x

LIM One Layer Numbers

Firstly I must tell you how surprised I was when, popping onto the LIM site yesterday, I saw that my 'shoe inspiration' card from a couple of weeks ago had been showcased!! (the card is here)
So a big thank you to Chrissie and Jen and to all the people who have sent me messages!





Anyway onto today's LIM challenge which is a 'One Layer - Numbers' card. I am grateful that it is 'one layer' week as, yesterday I started blitzing my craft room (and I mean BLITZING!), so there is hardly any clear floor space let alone workspace! I managed to get to a numbers stamp from Bring on the Cake and my Pacific Point ink pad and marker and this is what I came up with

I stamped three of the numbers stamp down the side of a card blank, coloured in a couple of numbers and circled the 'th' before drawing some lines down either side with the thin end of the marker pen.
The sentiment is another stamp from Bring on the Cake.

A 5-minute card and my entry this week was done!!

Whatever you do don't look too closely at the colouring, a combination of colouring onto ordinary white card (never too good!) and a photo taken before the ink was even dry - oh and as well as the fact that I'm no colouring-in expert - means the finish isn't great but at least I tried. Definitely no prizes for this one :0)
Have a great weekend and I'll be back when I eventually get my craft room back in some sort of order!

Margaret x

Coastal Cabana Mosaic

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days but I have been busy making cards and gifts for work colleagues who will be leaving school next week. Anyway back today with a card made with the lovely new colours, Coastal Cabana and Smoky Slate, along with the Mosaic Madness co-ordinating products. I started by partial embossing a panel of Whisper White with the Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder. Then, using my stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped images from the Mosaic Madness set and finished off with a border at the bottom of the embossed section, again from Mosaic Madness. The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake and stamped in Coastal Cabana. the panel was matted and layered onto Coastal Cabana cardstock and a white card blank. To finish the card I stamped another mosaic image and punched this out with the Mosaic Punch and added it to the card using dimensionals.
I hope you are all enjoying the heatwave although, dare I say, it's far too hot for me! But then I am one of these people who moan when it's freezing and moan when it's hot - never satisfied some would say :0)

Back soon x

Margaret x