3"x3"notelets

I have been a busy bee! A rainy, grey Saturday was a perfect day to make lots of 3"x3" notelets to give to a group of ladies I'll be seeing on Tuesday. Look at them all!

I thoroughly enjoyed making them and I'll be showing them to you a few at a time in the coming week. But here's a sneak preview.

Had to make sure that little bird from Best Wishes and More was in there!

And I've been loving my Pocket Silhouette set! (Yes, there are more birds in this group - I'm obviously quite a birdie sort of a girl!)

Have you spotted the cards made with Cottage Wall designer paper? My lovely friend calls it Raspberry Ripple and I think that goes a long way to explaining why I love it! (There's a rooster in this group - does that count as a bird? I suppose it does...)

It's half term here and I'm enjoying spending time with my family. We've got all sorts of fun lined up - picnics, parties, fishing trips, shopping trips, tennis, cricket, cycling, lego building, piano lessons, crafting sessions and... the dentist! Well, isn't life about sunshine and showers?!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.
See you soon!

FTL 92 Challenge

It all went horribly wrong for me with this week's FTL challenge from Clean and Simple Stamping. Here's Natasha's beautiful clean and simple sketch...

... and here is my effort.

It all got a little bit fussy really - sorry Natasha. One thing I do like about it is the colour scheme. I'm using Soft Suede, one of the new colours, and love the slight oliveness of this brown. I think it goes really well with the Old Olive designer paper from the Sweet Pea stack. I used the 1" circle punch to make the scallops around the middle of the flower. It looked a bit naked so I made a raised border with some more circle punches. I placed this on three pieces of narrow grosgrain ribbon and thought it looked a bit weird so then I added the leaves... Hmmm. Then I added the butterfly, coloured in with markers and finished with the sentiment which I initially stamped directly onto the background paper, but then had to cover it up with this banner because it looked as if I'd done it blindfold...

Supplies
Stamps: All a Flutter, Basic Phrases
Ink: Night of Navy
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Old Olive
Other: Circles and two-step bird punch, Sweet Pea designer paper stack, Designer Series paper (hostess stack), More Mustard and Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon, Earth Elements markers, Stamp-a-majig

Sometimes when you're crafting, things don't work out the way you want them to. That's fine - it means you are learning!

We have a bank holiday weekend here in the UK as well as birthday celebrations in our family.
Hope you have a fabulous weekend lined up too.
See you soon!

Rustic Rooster thank you

I thought I'd share a little thank you note I made with my Rustic Rooster hostess set. I made it for a friend who has one of those fabulous cream painted farmhouse kitchens and I thought it would fit in well with that!

She's also thinking of re-homing some hens as my brother did. (If you'd like to know more about giving ex-battery hens a happy retirement, contact the British Hen Welfare Trust.)

Rustic Rooster is one of my favourite hostess stamp sets. The set contains a useful background stamp of vintage French script and a Paris postmark as well as the hen and a pretty feather. You can earn these hostess sets by having a party - how much fun is that?! Click here to find out more.

The card was as simple as layering each of the stamps on top of one another. The hen and the feather were coloured using Earth Elements markers and I finished the card with a sentiment from the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set.

Supplies
Stamps: Rustic Rooster, Pocket Silhouettes
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip
Other: Love Notes, Earth Elements markers

Here's a well-kept secret that I'd like to share with you:
In the back of the Stampin' Up catalogue, where you could easily miss them, are these little love notes. They are only 7.6 cm square, so you can't send them through the post, but they are so perfect for little thank you notes, invitations and other cards you send by hand. You get 10 Whisper White and 10 Very Vanilla cards with matching quality envelopes for only £5.50. Check them out!

We're a bit hectic here at the moment as it's the last week before half term. (Yes, all my US chums, spare a thought for us - we have another 8 weeks to go before our summer holidays!) But I'm back on top of everything today and shall be back with you tomorrow.
Thanks for calling!

SPECIAL OFFER!

I hope you've enjoyed all the cards I've been making this last week using the Cottage Wall designer paper.

Do you remember these?

And how about these?

And here's a few more!

I have been so impressed with the versatility of this paper and am absolutely delighted to bring my UK readers this special offer:

I have put together a Cottage Wall pack for you featuring the gorgeous new colour Rich Razzleberry. The pack contains:

• 12 double sided 6"x6" Cottage Wall designer papers
• 1 Rich Razzleberry classic ink pad 
• 6 sheets of Rich Razzleberry card stock
• 2 metres of Rich Razzleberry polka dot ribbon
• 2 metres of Old Olive grosgrain ribbon
• Flower embellishments in Rich Razzleberry and Pale Plum (6 small, 3 large)

All these items will be posted first class, directly to your door, for just £15 including postage and packing. Simply click here to email me your order, or call me on 01280 820593.

Payment can be made with cash or cheque or via bank transfer; or you can use paypal. Please note, these packs are available only while stocks last.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

FTL91 with Cottage Wall designer paper

It's time for the weekly Clean and Simple challenge. I wasn't sure about the sketch this week at first but, as always when stepping outside my little comfort zone, I had great fun coming up with my card. And yes - I know I keep using the Cottage Wall paper, but I've got to know - how many different looks can I actually get out of this pack?!!! Here's my take on the sketch:

Check out the flower! That's one of the Razzleberry floral papers with stripes on the back, punched out three times with the scallop circle punch, snipped and scrunched into this extravagant little number! The leaves are another of the Cottage Wall papers folded in half and cut freehand. The scallops are made by lining up some circles punched out with a 1" punch and adhering a strip of the same cardstock over them. I wrapped some Old Olive grosgrain ribbon round that and topped it with a sentiment punched out with the word window punch. You know, I cannot recommend these punches highly enough; I use them all the time in my projects and they are well worth investing in.

Supplies
Stamps: Happy moments
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Card stock: Rich Razzleberry
Other: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, word window scallop circle and 1" circle punches, silver brad

We are basking in a heatwave in the UK and people have thrown caution to the winds and brought their shorts and sandals out! The thing about living on an island of uncertain weather is that there is a real sense of holiday when the sun shines for any length of time.
Right, I'm off to find my flip flops and a deck chair!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cottage Wall and Pocket Silhouette thank you card

Is there no end to the fabulousness of the Cottage Wall designer paper? I was just looking at the pale plum floral paper today and I noticed that the white leaves in the design were very similar to one of the stamps in the Pocket Silhouettes set. So out came the Rich Razzleberry ink and this is the result:

Once I'd stamped the leaves onto the paper, all that was left to do was to stamp the sentiment and embellish the flowers on the paper with rhinestones, then mat the panel onto Rich Razzleberry card stock and adhere it to a Whisper White card base. How simple was that? I love it!

Supplies
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Sincere Salutations
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Card stock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry
Other: Rhinestones from stash

I don't know if you've noticed but I am besotted with the Cottage Wall designer paper. I've been able to make so many different projects with it. If you love it too, watch this space as I can feel a special offer coming on...

Have a great weekend!

Wedding card and gift idea

It's spring, the sun is shining, the trees are blossoming and our thoughts turn to weddings. Don't you just love weddings? So much happiness makes everyone else feel happy too! I've designed a card for my friend's sister, who is getting married this weekend, and come up with a great gift idea with a personal touch.

This beautiful linen bound photograph/scrapbook album, tied up with some of the Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon makes a wonderful gift and presenting the album with a photo of the happy couple before they were married adds a personal touch. An informal picture taken on holiday perhaps, or at their engagement party if they had one, would be very much appreciated. The albums come in two sizes: the smaller one contains page protectors which can hold pages or photos 6"x6" (15.2 cm x 15.2 cm); the larger one holds pages/photos 12"x12" (30.5 cm x 30.5 cm). The smaller one costs £13.95, the larger one £20.95 - just send me an email if you'd like to order one.

The card was made by matting a strip of Sweet Pea designer paper onto a larger strip of Chocolate Chip card stock. I folded some of the Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon, using Snail adhesive to secure each fold, and centred it on the panel. I topped that with a scalloped square punched from Chocolate chip card stock and popped up on dimensionals, then added the focal sentiment from Basic Phrases, framed with Hodge Podge hardware. (I adore this hardware set and it is such good value - for £23.25 you get an amazing 200 styled silver items!)

Supplies
Stamps: Basic Phrases
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Other: Scallop square punch, Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon, Hodge Podge hardware

When my husband and I were married (all those years ago!) some friends of ours took informal photos of the day and presented them to us afterwards. We were bowled over by the gift and while we loved our official photos, those informal shots are a more vivid reminder of the day.

The little chap on the right is now a strapping great chap who towers over me!

Well, I've had a lovely time looking through our memories. That was truly a gift that has lasted throughout the years. Thanks guys!

See you soon

Studio Sketches thank you card

Today I'm using a technique that my very talented upline Michelle taught me. Take a look at this clean and simple thank you card:

Where, I hear you ask, did she get that large rectangular scallop? Well, Michelle showed me that if you overlap the squares punched from the scallop square punch, you can make a scalloped square or rectangle any size you like! So clever!

I used this technique to frame this beautiful image from the Studio Sketches stamp set. (You can't buy this set - but you can earn it absolutely free when you host a Stampin' Up party along with free products of your choice from the catalogue. Just email me to find out more.) I used my blender pens to colour the jug with Chocolate Chip ink and the pears in Old Olive. These blender pens give such a subtle look and you don't have to know anything about colouring at all!

The striped designer paper is my favourite paper from the Sweet Pea stack. I cut a piece to adhere to the bottom of the card, then cut a little off the edge and positioned it slightly above the main piece. It's a cost effective way of adding interest to a card.

To finish the card, I rounded the bottom corners and added the sentiment.

Supplies:
Stamps: Studio Sketches (Hostess set), Trendy Trees (sentiment)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive
Card stock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Other: Scallop square punch, blender pens, Sweet Pea designer paper stack, corner rounder

You'll be glad to know that summer has finally come to Buckingham and, at last, we're beginning to believe in the possibility of sun dresses and sandals! My legs made a tentative appearance today, although I'm not putting my boots away yet...
Thank you for the visit today.
See you tomorrow for more designer paper ideas.

Another Cottage Wall designer paper card

Some people may imagine that designer paper called Cottage Wall can only be useful for floral feminine cards but nothing could be further from the truth! Here's a male card made using two of the papers and very few other supplies:

The green paper is cut to reveal just one line of dots from the polka dot paper, creating a border. The bowl of apples from hostess set Studio Sketches was coloured in with a blender pen and markers and fitted into this gorgeous frame from Hodge Podge Hardware. (These frames are so useful as a focal point to a card and can frame an image or a sentiment.) The panel is adhered to an A5 Whisper White card base and the card is finished with a sentiment from Basic Phrases positioned with my Stamp-a-majig. Simple!

Supplies:
Stamps: Studio Sketches (hostess set), Basic Phrases
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Cottage Wall designer paper, Hodge Podge hardware

When I picked my young son up from school today, he informed me (with a smile) that smiles are contagious. And he's right - they are! I smiled back at him and told him about the old chicken and egg question - are you smiling because you're happy or are you happy because you're smiling? We talked about it for some time before deciding that it's probably a bit of both... but whatever the answer, a smile has to be a good thing!
Hope your day is filled with smiles!
See you tomorrow.

FTL Challenge 90 with Seeing Spots

Here's this week's sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping. These sketches are always so inspiring!



Here's what I came up with:

The Seeing Spots set that I've used was the first ever stamp set I owned and I still love it and use it often! I stamped the biggest image first in Old Olive ink, then used markers to colour the other circles and stamp them individually. I wanted to use thread rather than ribbon, so I added a strip of my favourite Sweet Pea designer paper to balance out the design. The linen thread was coloured with an Old Olive marker and anchored by two indents made with a 1/4" circle punch.

Supplies:

Stamps: Seeing Spots, Happy Moments (sentiment)

Ink: Old Olive, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip

Card stock: Whisper White, Soft Suede

Other: Earth Elements markers, 1/4" circle punch, linen thread, Sweet Pea designer paper, corner rounder

Using my first set always makes me remember when I first started stamping. I had been invited to a Stampin' Up party and didn't really think I'd like it; but when I got there I was bowled over - I hadn't realised that stamping and card making could be so contemporary! Since then, I've learned a great deal, made many friends and loads of mistakes - but always had enormous fun.

If you're new to paper crafting, congratulations! You've picked a great hobby!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

 

Cottage Wall designer paper cards

I was giving away a 6" x 6" pack of the new Cottage Wall designer paper to one lucky winner in a free draw at my card class today. I'd used the paper to design two very different cards for the class because I wanted to show how versatile this paper can be.  Congratulations to Sue for winning the draw - and how lovely that she immediately shared her new paper with her friend! Here are the cards we made today:

The first is a floral using a tonal colour scheme featuring the scrumptious new Rich Razzleberry which goes so beautifully with pale plum. I used the 5 petal punch to make the focal flowers because I liked the way they echoed the shape of the flowers in the paper. I set an eyelet in the centre of each flower and threaded a knotted piece of silver cord through to represent stamens.

The next card is for a smaller person! It's a window card using the cute lion from Fox and Friends.

I thought this swirly design in the Cottage Wall designer paper looked quite junge-lish. It's adhered to the card front and the window is cut out with the 1 3/4" circle punch. I heat embossed the lion and made a little scene for him using daubers and ink and a leaf stamp from Pocket Silhouettes. I punched it out with the same circle punch and adhered it inside the card so that you can see it through the window on the front. To finish the card, I added a heat embossed happy birthday tag and a matching button and rounded the corners.

Here's how it looks when it stands up. Can you see that properly?

Floral card supplies:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Trendy Trees (sentiment)
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum
Card stock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum
Other: 5 petal punch, scallop border punch, cropadile, silver eyelets, silver elastic cord, Cottage Wall designer paper

Lion window card supplies:
Stamps: Fox and Friends, Pocket Silhouettes, Vintage Labels
Ink: More Mustard, Old Olive, Bashful Blue
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: 1 3/4" and 1" circle punches, Versamark and clear embossing powder, More Mustard button, linen thread, Cottage Wall designer paper

So there we have it - two completely different looks from the designer paper. And it certainly doesn't stop there! Do come back to my blog in the coming week to see more ideas using the Cottage Wall papers.
See you soon!

Rustic Rooster birthday and wheeled gift wrap

My brother is a lovely man. I love his intelligence, his understanding, his honour, his generosity, his sense of humour - and that's just for starters! Today, I met him for breakfast at Starbucks to give him his birthday present and a card. He has recently rescued some battery hens and keeps them on his allotment - which may explain why I've used Rustic Rooster on his card and gift tag!

I really enjoyed making the gift wrap using a selection of wheels in a colour scheme of greens and brown on ordinary brown parcel paper.

The tag and some Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon really add the finishing touches to the gift.

I tried to keep the card quite simple.  The main panel was daubed with ink, the hen and the feather coloured with markers and stamped on top and my favourite tag from Punches Three attached to it with Vintage brads. The panel was distressed and inked at the edges before matting onto Ruby Red card stock and then adhered to a Whisper White card base.

Supplies:
Stamps: Rustic Rooster (hostess set), Punches Three (hostess set), Vintage Labels
Ink: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, More mustard
Card stock: Whisper White, Ruby Red
Other: Vintage brads, Earth Elements markers

The stamp sets used in this card are hostess sets - you can't buy them, but you can earn them as free gifts when you host a workshop. Stampin' Up are very generous to hostesses! You can not only earn free stamp sets, but also free products of your choice from the catalogue, depending on the orders made at your workshop. What better way to build up your craft collection?

I live in Buckingham and am quite happy to travel to the surrounding areas to hold a workshop for you. I will supply all materials and I guarantee you and your friends will have great fun! Why not check your diary and contact me to book a date? Then you can start making your wish list of all those free products...

See you soon!

Free Cottage Wall designer paper!

My Buckingham card classes have been running for a few weeks now and it's lovely to see people enjoying crafting together and making some great projects. This Friday, 14th May, there'll be an added bonus for those coming to the class - I'll be entering everyone into a prize draw for the chance to win this pack of 12 double sided sheets of 6"x6" Cottage Wall designer paper.

I'd hate for you to miss out - so book your place now (telephone: 01280 820593/07872 609731 or email me.)

Here's one of the cards we made at last week's class.

In contrast to the very feminine number we also made (see yesterday's post), this is a masculine card that follows the design rule that what is NOT on the page is just as important as what IS there. The leaf image is from the Autumn Days set - which should definitely not be kept in storage until Autumn! I've used one of the tags from the hostess set Punches Three - it's easy to change the sentiments on them if you use a marker and a stamp-a-majig. The tag is attached to the card with these vintage brads which I find invaluable for masculine cards.

Supplies:
Stamps: Autumn Days (leaf), Punches Three (tag), Vintage Labels (sentiment)
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke
Other: Vintage brads, Chocolate Chip marker, stamp-a-majig

Thank you for dropping in to see my work today.
Do leave a comment or ask questions if you'd like to. I enjoy reading all of your comments and appreciate you taking the time make them.
See you soon!

5 petal punch flower card

Yesterday I posted a flower tutorial and I thought that today I'd show you another card using the flower. It's one of the cards we made in my card class last Friday afternoon. There were experienced and less experienced crafters at the class but everyone turned out beautifully professional cards and I was proud of them!

I left my card blank but there is room for a sentiment in the top left hand corner. The swirl from Baroque Motifs was stamped in Old Olive ink onto Very Vanilla card stock and matted onto Old Olive. I made two holes with a small circle punch, threaded my favourite taffeta ribbon through and tied a bow. The card is finished with a cluster of leaves and flowers - unashamedly feminine!

Supplies:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Best wishes and More
Ink: Old Olive, Pink Passion,
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
Other: 2 Step Bird punch (for the leaves), Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, 1/4" circle punch. Certainly Celery brad, Stampin Pastels and versamark (for the flat flowers)

If you would like to make cards in a relaxed, friendly group I'd love to see you! We meet up on Friday afternoons 1-3pm in Buckingham - just give me a call or email me for directions.
Tomorrow I'll show you a more masculine card we made in the class.
Thanks for looking today!

Tutorial - 5 petal punch flower

Do you remember this card?

When I posted it, I promised to get together a tutorial for making the flower. Well, I have done - and here it is today!

This is what you'll need:
Card stock in Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery
Ink in Pink Passion and Old Olive
5 Petal punch and Boho Blossoms punch
Sharp scissors, paper piercer, daubers and an Old Olive brad

Punch three flowers from Pretty in Pink card stock, using the 5 Petal punch. Then punch one pointy flower from Certainly Celery card stock using the Boho Blossom punch.

Hold one of the pink flowers firmly in the centre and run your other thumb nail from the centre out to the end of each petal. You can be quite rough!

You should end up with something that looks like this, with the petals curving upwards. Repeat this with all the pink flowers.

Now, get your thumb nail (or something sharp) and peel the petal apart a little at the end.

Do this to all your pink flowers.

Now apply a little Pink Passion ink to the very edges of each petal using a sponge dauber. Do this to all the pink flowers.

Next take your Certainly Celery flower and snip between each petal a little way towards the centre. Don't snip too far - you'll be putting a brad in the centre and it won't hold if you've snipped right to the centre.

Apply a little Old Olive ink to the edges of the petals with a sponge dauber. (TIP: I keep a separate sponge dauber for each colour that I use for sponging.)

Put all your flowers into a pile, making sure the petals aren't all directly beneath one another, and put the green one on top. Pierce a hole all the way through with your paper piercer (or a cropadile).

Put a brad through the hole and open it out at the back to secure all the layers of the flower.

 Curl your flower inwards a little and rearrange the petals and - voila! A beautiful 3 dimensional flower to use on all sorts of projects.




At my card club on Friday, we made another card using this flower. I'll be posting that tomorrow, so do check back for that.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend.
See you tomorrow.