I miss you - Ain't Love Grand!

You MAY have noticed that there's a new Stampin' Up catalogue being released tomorrow... ! I'm only ever so SLIGHTLY excited (she says jumping up and down like a mad thing!) But I've also got another exciting announcement to make:

My Christmas House tutorial is ready! This beautifully detailed house-style mini album is designed to take your photographs on the inside, incorporates a roof that doubles as a card and folds flat for posting in a standard C5 envelope. It's the perfect 'more than a card' gift for all your relatives! I've lovingly prepared clearly-photographed, step-by-step instructions with measurements given in both imperial and metric. You can buy it today for just £2.50 by clicking on the paypal button in my sidebar!

Now, shall we have another sneak peek? Okay - come and see a card I made with a set that isn't my usual style at all:

Isn't that plane the cutest little thing?! I've fallen in love with the retro feel of it. There are five other gorgeous retro images in this hostess stamp set and I can't wait to show you the rest! And have you seen these gorgeous new colours?! The darker colour is Island Indigo and the lighter is Pool Party and they just go together so beautifully

I can imagine putting other messages in this banner but I thought the 'I miss you' message was appropriate for today because no matter how exciting all the fabulous new goodies are, there are some retiring items that will be very sadly missed. Today is the very last day for ordering retiring items from the Last Chance List and the mini catalogue!

I thought this little person, waving madly, would be the perfect companion to the 'miss you' plane! One of the things I love about getting new stamps is see how they combine with my existing collection.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Ain't Love Grand (hostess set), All in the Family

Ink: Island Indigo, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey

Card stock: Island Indigo, Pool Party, watercolour paper

Other: Stamp-a-majig, paper snips, blender pen

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Click here to view the Last Chance List - it's the last day to order from this list.

I'm not even going to start wittering on today - just in case I burst with excitement! But do pop back tomorrow and join the fun!

See you then!

Three Minute Thursday - Welcome Christmas sledging

Good morning! Are you ready for another in my weekly series of speedy cards? We are experiencing quite a heatwave in Buckingham and in much of the UK but I'm definitely bringing the temperature down today with another trip to Christmas-land! Come and have a look:

This has to be one of the quickest Christmas cards I've come up with yet but it's also one of my favourites. The Not Quite Navy card base is swiped with a Whisper White craft ink pad and I love the snowy, icy effects this technique creates.

Those fabulous sledging figures are stamped on top with Basic Black ink - I did wonder whether the image would show up properly over the craft ink but it works brilliantly. There were a few little spots that didn't 'take' but it's easy to run over those with a Basic Black marker.

The sentiment is from Season of Joy, another of my favourite Christmas sets. I stamped it in more of the Whisper White craft ink. This ink is a real must-have - not only for Christmas cards but all year round! The falling snow was made with dots of my Uni-ball Signo pen which shows up beautifully on the dark card stock. It doesn't look great in the close-up photo but it's quite effective when you see the whole card!

Supplies needed for this fast card:

Stamps: Welcome Christmas, Season of Joy (sentiment)

Ink: Whisper White craft ink, Basic Grey classic ink

Card stock: Not Quite Navy

Other: Uni-ball Signo pen, Basic Black marker, Stamp-a-majig.

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Click here to view the Last Chance List - only two more days to bag a bargain!

There are only two more days until the brand new Stampin' Up catalogue goes live! Are you ready? I have catalogues ready to post so, if you'd like to have a browse, just click the paypal button on my sidebar and I'll get one sent to you first class. There'll also be a link in my sidebar on the 1st October so that you can view it online. If you're planning on making an order with me, you could be lucky enough to win a prize - there'll be something different every day next week!

Don't forget in all the excitement that there are only two days to order from the Last Chance List - and also from the mini catalogue. Baby Blossoms, Plane and Simple, Strength and Hope... these are just some of my favourites that won't be available after Friday. I'd hate for you to miss out.

Thank you so much for visiting me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a sneak peek and - with any luck -an announcement! Do come and join me!

Hugs,

A little Happiness Shared!

I have had the Happiness Shared set for some time but life is a busy old affair and somehow or other I hadn't managed to ink it up until recently! It's been on my mind though and when I got a few minutes the other day, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Come and have a look:

I don't mind telling you that I'm thrilled with the way this turned out! The large image from the set has been stamped repeatedly in different directions to make a whole hedge of gorgeous wild roses!

I used Basic Grey ink, which is slightly waterproof, so that I could give the roses a colour wash with my aqua painter and Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz inks. The heavy weight Naturals Ivory card stock stands up to watercolouring well but you need to take care not to overload it with water or it'll warp - although an hour or so inside a heavy book will sort that out! When the roses were dry, I added centres to the roses with the thin end of a Daffodil Delight marker.

The card was finished with a sentiment from the Thank You Kindly set, stamped in Basic Grey ink, and a curved corner.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Happiness Shared, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Basic Grey, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz

Card stock: Naturals Ivory

Other: Corner rounder, Daffodil Delight marker, aquapainter, stamp-a-majig.

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Click here to view the Last Chance List - full of stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% off! These items are available only while stocks last - and some have sold out already!

With all this talk of the loveliness in the current catalogue you may be imagining that I've forgotten that there's a new catalogue being launched in just THREE DAYS TIME!!! Well I haven't forgotten at all! In fact, I've been SO excited it's been quite hard to contain myself! I hope you'll be coming to join me on Saturday morning when I'll be unveiling some of the gorgeousness inside it - and there'll be some announcements that may or may not have something to do with freebies and prizes too...!


Oh go on then, here's a little preview of one of the projects! I'm really loving this vintage look.

And as if that isn't enough excitement - I've got an absolutely cracking Three Minute Thursday coming up tomorrow! Do pop back if you have a minute.

Thanks for coming to visit today and I'll see you soon,

French Foliage goes feminine

After yesterday's very masculine post I thought I'd show you a feminine gift set that I made for a lovely friend of mine:

I'd bought her the gorgeous white and green hydrangea you can see on the left of the photo and I thought the delicate colouring was so pretty I made it the theme for the set. Come and see the card:

I used the waste from my Little Leaves die to sponge this leaf image onto the card front using Wild wasabi ink. The frame was then measured out and drawn in with a Basic Grey marker. I masked the inside area off and sponged a border with Pear Pizzazz ink, overstamping it with the lovely leaf from French Foliage.

If I zoom in a bit here, you can see that I added a little detail to the leaves with a green watercolour pencil and used a grey one to outline the frame. I find this gives a lot of dimension to what is essentially a one layer card. I love the Stampin' Up watercolour pencils and use them a lot. Have you noticed the flowers? They're made with the four-petal flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack - my favourite flower punch in the whole world!

The sentiment is stamped in Basic Grey ink and is brand spanking new! This is a sneaky peek from the new catalogue (which goes live on Saturday!) but I can tell you that it's from the most useful set I've ever seen in my life!

My friend has a very slim build and I've always admired her tiny, elegant wrists. I found the perfect bracelet for her and popped it in this little box made with the last of my Springtime Vintage papers and tied up with the softly draping Rose Red seam binding ribbon.

You know how I like everything to coordinate - well here's the matching tag! I used the inside part of the Little Leaves die this time, gluing it to a Vanilla circle matted onto a Wild Wasabi one, and adding more of those gorgeous little flowers.

Supplies needed for the card:

Stamps: French Foliage, sentiment not yet released!

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Grey

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Whisper White (for the flowers)

Other: Little Leaves die, markers, watercolour pencils, stamp-a-majig.

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Click here to view the Last Chance List - full of stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% off! These items are available only while stocks last - and some have sold out already!

To celebrate my friend's birthday, a group of us went out to a local restaurant. All was well until the proprietor, retrieving the menus after taking our order, asked us whether we were there for any special occasion. Oh yes, we told him happily, indicating our friend, we were celebrating a birthday! We were then quite startled - and the birthday girl completely horrified! - when he delivered a dramatic rendition of 'Happy Birthday' in a powerful baritone!

I'm so pleased you came to see me today! Thank you for all the comments and emails you send me and for following my blog - it means a great deal to me. I shall be back tomorrow with a card using a set I've been dying to ink up for ages - so do come and have a look if you have a minute.

Hope to see you then,