Simples Sunday

If you are here to see my LIM Guest Designer cards you will need to scroll down but, while you're here, I would love you to take a look around x

Onto my Simples Sunday card

A really simple card for you today using some DSP from the Fresh Prints Stack. This is a beautiful stack of paper and is only available until the end of June from the Spring/Summer catalogue. I matted it onto Crumb Cake cardstock and tied a knot of Crumb Cake Seam Binding around before matting onto a card blank. A butterfly, from Papillon Potpourri, was stamped in Coastal Cabana and punched with the Elegant Butterfly Punch. This was positioned on top of another butterfly punched from Coastal Cabana cardstock. The sentiment, punched with the Word Window Punch, is from Express Yourself and matted onto a Large Oval. The pearls are from my own stash because they matched the Crumb Cake so well!!

If you would like to order any SU products, either from the catalogues or the Retiring List (link at top of sidebar), then don't forget I am offering free p&p (normally £4.95) with any order of £35 or over until the end of June. You can either email me at margaretk21@hotmail.com or telephone 01933 663477 and I'll be very happy to help.

Thanks for visiting

Margaret x

A Touch of Turquoise

A clean & simple card for today's LIM colour challenge - A Touch of Turquoise. I stamped one of the images from Gorgeous Grunge in Bermuda Bay onto a piece of white cardstock along with a sentiment from Express Yourself. The flower is made from Whisper White cardstock and the Pansy, Petite Petals and Boho Blossoms punches - sponged around the edges with Bermuda Bay. The panel was matted onto a white card blank and a few of the tiny Basic Pearls were dotted around - job done!

I am now on holiday for just over two weeks (it has seemed a very long term!) so I am hoping to get in a lot more crafting - watch this space

Have a good weekend

Margaret x

Simples Sunday

My Simples Sunday card today is one I've unashamedly CASE'd from a fellow team member, Aida Dominguez VD Veeken. Aida is a Stampin'Up! demonstrator in the Netherlands and posted her version of the card on our team's Facebook page and I thought it was simply stunning - definitely my style of card! I have emailed Aida to ask if I can share her Facebook page with you but, as yet, I've not heard back from her so until I do I will just have to say a big thank you to her for sharing her gorgeous design.
I used Naturals White cardstock, two stamps from Gorgeous Grunge, a sentiment from Express Yourself cut with the Modern Label Punch and the Elegant Butterfly Punch. Other than a few Basic Rhinestones that's it - Simples!
Please pop back tomorrow to see the matching box and, hopefully, I will have heard from Aida and  be able to direct you to her :0)   **Edited to add Aida's link - click here

Margaret x

Those Men Again!!

Hello and here I am back with yet another 'male' card and my fifth and last entry to the LIM challenge!! I am showing you two cards today because I started off making the card shown below with the men in mind but, when I'd finished it, I actually thought it looked quite girly so I set to and changed the colours slightly and ended up with the one on the right which I think is a much more manly version.
Isn't it strange how a change of colour to exactly the same design can make so much difference?

 Another very simple card but, as I'm sure you realise by now, less is very much more in my world :0)
I started by stamping a 'splat' from Gorgeous Grunge (a stamp set I didn't like until I actually bought it and now can't stop using!) in Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake (for the card above) and Real Red stamped off (for the card on the left) then added a strip of DSP from the Fresh Prints Stack - available in the Spring catalogue. The sentiment, from Express Yourself for the card above and Teeny Tiny Sentiments for the card on the left, was punched with the Large Oval Punch and matted onto a label cut with an Apothecary Accents framelit which had been sponged round the edge.

Thanks for visiting and I'll be back tomorrow with something girly!

Margaret x

Another one for the men!

Another one for the men and this week's LIM challenge. This one was inspired by a card made by my sister for Dad's birthday last week, I say inspired and not CASe'd because I made this from memory as I only saw the card for a short time but it made enough of an impression on me to be able to produce something similar!
 My sister's card was beautifully made in blue and silver but mine, as you can see, is in Old Olive and gold. The leaves are the Magnificent Maple stamp, which sadly is now retired, with one stamped in Old Olive and the other gold embossed - both fussy cut with paper snips. The 'splattering' in the background is a stamp from Gorgeous Grunge and the sentiment from the Hostess set, Express Yourself, which is also gold embossed.

Thanks for looking and I'll be back tomorrow with another masculine offering!

Margaret x

One for the Men!

I am always hearing complaints from people saying they find 'male' cards really hard to do so, last night, I had a play to see what I could come up with. Lo and behold when I logged into the LIM challenge blog this morning the theme for the week is 'Masculine' - spooky or what??
Unlike my usual hurried crafting on a Saturday morning all I had to do was take a photo and here it is.
I used the Banner punch, which is free in the SAB promotion, to punch out some flags from a piece of Smoky Slate cardstock and positioned this down one side of a card blank using dimensionals. The three Night of Navy flags were placed to the side of this, again using dimensionals, and a sentiment from the Hostess set, Express Yourself, was stamped in Night of Navy. The flags needed something just to finish the card off and, after a bit of pondering, I decided to use some of the small Basic Rhinestones - well who says men can't have a bit of bling :0)
I hope you have all survived last night's horrendous storm without too much damage. I thought I was going to wake up with my house around my ears but, thankfully, no damage this morning apart from a few pots blown over. Have a lovely weekend and stay safe.

Back soon

Margaret x

Another Valentine

Here is the second of my Valentine's cards made for a team challenge. This is quite a simple card using the Squares Collection Framelits and hearts punched with the Small Heart and Owl Builder punches.
I simply diecut a frame using Real red cardstock and placed this onto a Whisper White square using dimensionals. This was fixed to a piece of Real Red cardstock which had been stamped with the sentiment stamp from the Hostess set, Express Yourself, and matted onto a white card blank. The hearts were placed inside the frame and the same sentiment used for the background, cut out with the Word Window punch, was placed on the bottom edge.
Again this could be used just as well for an anniversary card rather than a Valentine's.

Back soon

Margaret x

Valentine's Card

As promised I am back to show you one of the Valentine's cards I made for a team challenge. I have used the new Spiral Flower die to make the Real Red rose and this is one product that I definitely need more practice with as I'm not very good!!!
A piece of Basic Black cardstock was run through one of the Adorning Accents Embossing Folders and matted onto a strip of Real Red before adhering to a card blank. Some leaves, punched from the Bird Builder punch, and a couple of loops of taffeta ribbon were glued in place then the rose placed on top. The card was finished off with a sentiment from the Hostess Set, Express Yourself. Of course this doesn't have to be a Valentine's card it could be used for an anniversay or just to let someone know you care.

Back tomorrow with another Valentine's/ Anniversary card

Margaret x

 

Simples Sunday Rainbow

Following the LIM challenge theme, Rainbows, I have a couple of cards to show you and a little technique tutorial. The card above is a super simple one and very quick to make. I stamped a flower from Petite Petals in a 'rainbow' of colours and punched them out with the co-ordinating punch. On a card blank I stamped one of the Gorgeous Grunge stamps in Smoky Slate across the card and a sentiment from A Dozen Thoughts underneath. All that was left to do was to position the flowers and finish them with a Basic Rhinestone.

My second card is an easy one as well but a little more difficult than the first! I used an acrylic block and markers for the background, cut out a frame with the Squares Collection Framelits and added some tiny flowers punched with one of the Itty Bitty Shapes punches, finished with a tiny Basic Pearl for the centres. The sentiment is from the Hostess set, Express Yourself.
For those of you who may not have seen the technique to make the background above I have taken a 'step by step' set of photos, shown below.

                       Colour the block with markers           Spritz generously with water       
                  (this can also be done with ink pads)        

                          Press firmly onto cardstock                 Carefully lift the block
                           leave for a few seconds

                                 Cut to size                                   Make your card!!

LIM Sketch

The LIM challenge this week is a Sketch (top right) and, for my entry,  I have used some brand new products which will be available from 28th Jan in the Spring/Summer catalogue.

I started by gold embossing a sentiment from the Hostess set, Express Yourself, onto a piece of Whisper White card before adding two strips of the brand new Watercolour Wonder Designer Washi Tape (which is also gold!). The panel was then matted onto a piece of Gold Foil Sheet (making a re-appearance in the Spring catalogue) then onto a card blank.
The gold embossed flowers are also a new product called Petite Petals and were punched out with the new co-ordinating punch. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of gold but, like everything else, it has it's place!
I must apologise for my lack of comments on last week's LIM challenge but the week just seemed to disappear from my life without trace - I promise I will try harder next week :0) Thank you to all who leave such lovely comments on my blog, I appreciate each and every one of them.

Have a great weekend and I'll be back tomorrow

Margaret x

Sketch Challenge

Whilst hopping around blogs the other day I came across a site called Paper Craft Crew Challenges and when I saw the sketch for this week I had to play. A completely different style to my normal cards but I enjoyed the challenge so much I ended up making two!! Come and have a look.






For this one I used some leaves that were lying around which I'd cut with the Autumn Accents die the other day. I sponged them, along with an acorn, using 'autumnal' colours - too many to mention but all SU! The leaf on the oval is from Lovely as a Tree and this was stamped in Old Olive and coloured with a blender pen, using some of the same colours. Cardstock is Early Espresso, Neutrals Ivory and Very Vanilla with the leaves in Crumb Cake and Pumpkin Pie. I finished the card with a knot of twine made from strands pulled from a piece of Burlap Ribbon and a sentiment from the Express Yourself Hostess set.
I am also entering this card for the Around the World challenge (AW03) which this month is 'Fall' (or Autumn in the UK!)



After my first attempt I went on to make a Christmas card using the same sketch. The colour combo is Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate and white with a piece of Winter Frost Speciality DSP for the background. The snowflakes are from Festive Flurry stamped in Smoky Slate and cut out with the matching Framelits. Both sentiments are stamps from Teeny Tiny Sentiments and a bow of silver ribbon and some Basic Rhinestones were added to finish the card.

Thanks for stopping by, back soon

Margaret x

Simples Sunday

This week's Simples Sunday card - and another entry for the Less is More challenge 'String or Twine'.
A similar design to yesterday's card and just as smple but, this time, an anniversary card. The cardstock is Naturals Ivory which has a lovely rustic feel and goes perfectly with the Linen Thread. Both hearts were punched with the large Heart Punch and the one at the front was embossed using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder to add texture. A sentiment from the Hostess set 'Express Youself ' was stamped using the Gold Metallic Encore pad and a bow of Linen Thread was added to the embossed heart. I told you it was easy :0)

Have a good day and I'll be back soon

Margaret x