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Saturday 29 December 2012

Wishing you a happy 2013

Hello! I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas. We're still enjoying our break but I thought I'd put my nose round the door to wish you a happy new year with a card.  It features the Happy Hour set which ties in nicely with Less is More's challenge for the festive period - Drinks. Come and have a look:


How about this for a delicious cocktail of colour? Rich Razzleberry, Summer Starfruit with a dash of Lucky Limeade! Yum!


I expect you can see how I created the drinks: the glass on the right was stamped first and masked while I stamped the other two, and of course my stamp-a-majig came in very handy to get everything exactly where I wanted it! The drinks were stamped again onto a scrap of card stock using Summer Starfruit ink and the gorgeous patterned 'liquid' cut out and glued to the Rich Razzleberry glasses. TIP: when you have a round shape that needs cutting out, don't forget your circle punches - they're more accurate than cutting freehand and take a fraction of the time.


And here's another of my hybrid sentiments - the thank you is from Sassy Salutations and is combined with part of a great sentiment from Happy Hour. I'd love to take the credit for this but I think my stamp-a-majig has to step forwards and take another bow!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Happy Hour, Sassy Salutations
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Summer Starfruit, Lucky Limeade
Card stock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Summer Starfruit
Other: 3/4" circle punch, markers, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593.

We've been having a great time here - I love having my children off school! We all joined in with cleaning and decorating the house, went visiting relatives and exchanging presents, and made festive food together. One of the most popular activities was using the left-over marzipan from the Christmas cake to make petit fours which obviously revived playdough memories for the children.


We had a laugh over the scary pineapple and the strawberry that was the same size and me getting all muddled up and calling them plus fours (which are those funny breeches golfers wear!) but I think some of those fruit turned out beautifully!

Happy new year to you for Tuesday and I'll see you soon.
Hugs,




Friday 21 December 2012

Watercolour Winter meets Festival of Prints

It's no hardship for me to make cards but I really thought I'd finished making Christmas cards until my husband put in an order for some more yesterday. "Big ones that I can write a note in," he said. So here's what I came up with:


This wonderful paper is one of my favourites from the gorgeous Festival of Prints designer paper stack. It's lovely and subtle, pale enough to stamp onto effectively and looks great inked round the edges with Marina Mist ink.


I started with this beautiful sentiment from Delightful Dozen which I inked up with Raspberry Ripple then stamped holly in two corners which I coloured in with markers. Watercolour Winter has to be one of my favourite Christmas stamp sets ever and I will certainly not be parting with it! It will only be available until the end of January so if you're a fan of these beautiful images too, don't miss your chance to get it!


If I zoom in here you can see that the paper shows through the colouring - an effect I really like. This was another very quick design - well, it wouldn't do to keep his lordship waiting now would it?!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Delightful Dozen, Watercolour Winter
Ink: Marina Mist, Raspberry Ripple classic inks plus markers
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Festival of Prints designer paper stack, Stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593.

And now that's it for a bit while I make merry with my lovely family over Christmas! But before I go off and wrestle with paper chains and turkeys (but not at the same time!) I'd like to say a really huge thank you to all my readers and customers for your support throughout the year. Running my Stampin' Up business is a dream come true for me and it's you that makes it possible. I'm wishing you a very happy Christmas indeed and I'll see you soon.

Hugs,



Thursday 20 December 2012

Three Minute snowflake cards

If you're anything like me, you'll be congratulating yourself on being wonderfully organised about Christmas and then suddenly realise you've run out of Christmas cards for the neighbours! Luckily, it's quick and easy to run up a batch of my three minute cards today. Come and have a look:


It's the cutting that takes most time on these cards (although if you have Stampin' Up's table top cutter, you can get everything cut in no time at all as it enables you to make accurate cuts through four or five sheets of card stock at once!)


The panel is stamped with a Cherry Cobbler sentiment and surrounded by three snowflakes from Mixed Medley stamped in Real Red ink. I mounted this onto a Cherry Cobbler mat before attaching to the Crumb Cake card base - the different reds give a bit of depth to this simple card.


To finish the card I added a tiny circle of red glimmer paper cut out with my hand held hole punch - it fits the snowflake centre perfectly.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Mixed Medley, Petite Pairs
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Real Red
Card stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Red glimmer paper, hand held punch, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593.

I don't think the British Isles are going to see any snow over the Christmas holiday this year - from the forecast it looks as if it's going to be wet instead. But even if we did see a snowflake or two, I'd be extremely surprised if they were red!

Now, it's time for me to roll my sleeves up and get cooking as we're expecting company this evening! See you tomorrow for a final post before we pull the shutters down for Christmas.
Hugs,

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Filling the Christmas stockings

Stampin' Up have so many gorgeous dies that can be used for everything from cards to scrapbook pages to decorations to gifts to table favours! You'll find them all on pages 190-194 of the annual catalogue and they are well worth a look! The Holiday Stocking Bigz die is great fun - come and see what I made for my Stampers 6 club ladies:


Well, it's not Christmas unless Santa comes and fills up your stocking is it?! Did any of my lovely ladies get pieces of coal in theirs? NO, of course not!


I embossed the main piece of stocking with the Square Lattice embossing folder before attaching the heel, toe and ankle sections. Sticky Strip is a must for this project as the stocking had to be quite tough to have yummies stuffed into it! I expect you've noticed that I used that wonderful stitched grosgrain ribbon again to embellish my stockings. I definitely need this ribbon in EVERY colour!

Here's what you need to make these stockings
Card stock: Cherry Cobbler
Other: Holiday Stocking Bigz die, Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder, Real Red stitched grosgrain ribbon, hand held hold punch
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593.

Yesterday, my youngest son removed his socks while we were having dinner and accidentally dropped one of them on the table. Everyone squawked! "Please remove that sock!" I said. "If I'd wanted a cheeseboard, I would have made one!"

Tomorrow it's Three Minute Thursday here and if you've run out of Christmas cards, I shall be showing you a fast design you can use to rustle up a quick last-minute batch! See you then,

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Christmas biscuits, festively boxed up

I adore Christmas biscuits! They're quick to bake and decorate, fill the house with an excitingly Christmassy smell and make lovely gifts when they're attractively packaged.


I like to cut my dough with a star shaped cookie cutter and, when the biscuits are baked and cooled, decorate them with zig zags of white icing and soft gold or silver balls and just a dusting of icing sugar.


The wonderful kraft boxes on p.161 of the annual catalogue are perfect for presenting these little biscuits, but don't forget to line them with greaseproof paper first.  They're great for all sorts of other goodies too and at £2.75 for a pack of four, they don't break the bank either!


For Christmas, I like to tie mine up with the stitched grosgrain ribbon in real red - oh, this ribbon is divine and comes in loads of the Stampin' Up colours!


I used a fun tag from Tags til Christmas for this box. I stamped it in Real Red ink, cut the centre out with the new 1" square punch and mounted it onto a scalloped square punched out of Early Espresso Core'dinations card stock. I love how you get the sanded edges look when you punch this gorgeous textured card stock.


Of course I had to design a card to go with my box of Christmas biscuits and Merry Minis was the perfect stamp set for it! I used Real Red to stamp some stars and ornaments, punched them out with the coordinating punch and attached them with dimensionals to a string drawn with an Early Espresso marker (using an oval pie dish as a guide!)


The marker came in handy for doodling bows at the tops of the decorations too! Doesn't this make a sweet banner?!


I chose to use the wonderfully swirly Merry Christmas from Sassy Salutations, stamped again in Real Red ink.


And here they are together, all ready to go!

Here's the recipe I use for my biscuits (adapted from various other recipes I've tried over the years!)
5oz plain flour
5oz SR flour
4 tsp cinnamon
2oz dark muscovado sugar
2oz granulated sugar
4oz butter
1 large free range egg, beaten
A little milk if needed
Method
Cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy and add the beaten egg. Sieve in the dry ingredients and mix into a dough with a little milk if needed. Roll out to 1/2cm thickness, cut out star shapes and bake on floured baking trays in an oven pre-heated to 150 degrees C for 10-15 minutes until browned.

Here's what you'll need to box the biscuits up
Stamps: Tags til Christmas
Ink: Real Red
Card stock: Whisper White, Core'dinations in Early Espresso
Other: Kraft boxes, Real Red stitched grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Square punch, 1" square punch, white bakers twine.

Here's what you'll need for the coordinating card
Stamps: Merry Minis, Sassy Salutations
Ink: Real Red classic ink plus an Early Espresso marker
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Real Red
Other: Merry Minis punch pack, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593.

This has turned into a very long post hasn't it... but still, I'm sure some of you could do with a bit of a nap! Our lovely cat Tuppence is napping away as I type and she's taken to making noises as she dreams - just like a dog! You can tell that she's being Warrior Tuppence, Defender of the Territories from the noises she's making (although in real life she's a complete wimp!)

I shall be back tomorrow with a really fun project. Hope to see you then.

Monday 17 December 2012

Stampin' Up shimmer paint scene

Stampin' Up shimmer paint makes the most wonderful glimmer mist and faux mother of pearl using the Champagne Mist and Frost White versions but what about the Platinum? I was inspired to experiment by Create a Scene where the challenge is to create a winter scene. Come and see:


I made my scene by dabbing the paint onto glossy card stock and then sponging Pacific Point ink down the side. The Lovely as a Tree image was stamped over the top once using white stazon ink, then again with black stazon using a stamp-a-majig to offset it slightly. I swiped the bottom of the panel with versamark ink and embossed with white embossing powder to create a snowy foreground.


Here's another photo taken from a different angle to show you how the image changes in different lights - it's all quite shimmery and makes a great wintery-looking sky.


The glossy panel was attached to Pacific Point card stock which had been punched using the Word Window punch. The sentiment is stamped in the negative space - it's from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is the perfect size to fit this punch.


This was the Christmas card my lovely Stampers 6 club ladies received this year, so I made six of them...


... and this is the back of the card. I think it's a nice touch to stamp the card with a 'created by' stamp - this one is from the Creatively Yours set which has several '© Stampin' Up' images that you can use if you want to sell your cards. I signed my name using a Pacific Point marker - I love the way you can make everything coordinate with Stampin' Up products.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Creatively Yours
Ink: Stazon white and black, Pacific Point classic ink
Card stock: Glossy white, Whisper White, Pacific Point
Other: Platinum shimmer paint, Word Window punch, Pacific Point marker, versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593. Please note that today is the last day to order if you want delivery before Christmas!

You'll be glad to know I survived my party weekend although I needed a restful day yesterday to get over my late nights. My daughter, who has a job at a local hotel, entertained me with stories about various parties she'd been waitressing at over the weekend. The highlight was her description of the end of a fancy dress party where she'd encountered Cruella de Vil comforting a distraught and rather worse for wear Tinkerbell!

I'll be back tomorrow to share a gift I took along for the hostess of one of the parties I attended at the weekend. See you then,

Saturday 15 December 2012

Take Care anniversary lovebirds

I'm just back from Buckingham's Christmas parade which brings the community together with a cavalcade of brilliantly made floats, pipe bands, dancers and other displays all to raise money for various charities. It was a bright, sunny morning which really brought the crowds out and there was a lovely atmosphere. Now I'm back, there's just time to whip up a card for the Less is More challenge before I fly out and get some last minute shopping done. The theme at the site today is Anniversary - come and see what I came up with:


See that branch? That's from my fabulous new Take Care stamp set and I'm very excited about it! I bought the set thinking it would come in handy for Easter with its sweet nest and eggs but the image I love the most is this branch - just think of all the things you can perch on that!


For this card I brought in a couple of the birds from my Aviary set - aren't they cute?! I stamped a heart from my Little Additions set between them and it amuses me how startled they look!


The sentiments from Teeny Tiny Wishes are always lovely and neat and understated, allowing the image to take centre stage.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Take Care, Aviary, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Little Additions (tiny heart)
Ink: Marina Mist, Raspberry Ripple classic inks plus Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede and Early Espresso markers
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

My husband doesn't normally get involved in our family silliness but whenever he does it's always a cracker! Yesterday he looked over at me when we were watching TV and, with a completely straight face, asked me: "Do you know what time Andy Murray goes to bed?" When I replied that I had no idea he smiled with satisfaction. "Tennish," he said. This was to pay me back for a time about twenty years ago when he accused me of being up to mischief. "You're looking positively elvish!" he said. "What?" I said. "Elvish Preshley?!"

Anyway, enough of all this rambling... any minute now it'll be Christmas so I'd better get sorted! I'll be back next week to show you the rest of my festive makes - including some very quick ones for anyone who fancies making a batch of Christmas cards in half an hour! See you then,


Friday 14 December 2012

Petal Card box and matching card

I hope I'm not boring you with my Petal Card boxes but I love them to bits! Here's another box I made with a matching card:



The wonderful houndstooth paper is another design from the Festival of Prints designer stack which is exactly the right size for making these boxes! I loved the contrast of Cherry Cobbler with the bold print and softened the look with Crumb Cake seam binding. The tag is another one from the hostess set Mixed Medley - this really is a versatile set.


I made a coordinating card - a really simple design with strips of textured and patterned papers and a gorgeous layered die-cut button. I'll definitely be using this design again.


Here's a close-up showing the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes - it seems to have got smudged. I'd like to say it was from my tears of sorrow but I don't think I'm going to convince you on that one!

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
(For product info on the box, see previous post)
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (sentiment)
Ink: Basic Black
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Festival of Prints designer paper stack, Sweet Buttons embosslits die, Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, bakers twine, Simply Scored
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

Talking of tears, I came into the living room yesterday to find my daughter rolling about laughing. When I asked what was up she told me she'd just read this: 'Everyone was crying at the wedding  - even the cake was in tiers'.  Hmm, it seems that hysteria has set in.

Well it's Friday and it's a bit of a party weekend for me! I just hope I'm up to it... staying up until 10pm is a bit of a challenge for me these days - and will they be serving horlicks at a party do you think?! I hope you have a lovely weekend, whatever you're up to, and I shall see you very soon.

Thursday 13 December 2012

Three minute Merry Mini trees

With all my extra festive duties, it's hard to find time to make cards for all my favourite challenges and I suspect I'm not the only one that's having to let them slip for the moment. Today's card was actually made for the new CAS Colours and Sketches challenge where the colours are Real Red, Garden Green and Lucky Limeade - but the only problem is that I'm a day too late, aargh! Oh well, come and see it anyway:


This is a fun way to use the Merry Mini tree punch and it's easy to punch out a border like this - you just line up the left-hand edge of the punch with the centre of the previously punched tree each time. I scored two lines above my punched trees and pasted designer paper and card stock strips behind them.


You can see that better in this photo. I like the way this paper from the Festival of Prints stack looks like baubles and tinsel on the trees and the Garden Green card stock makes little tubs for the trees to sit in. I used a Real Red marker on the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes - it was the perfect size for this design.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (sentiment)
Ink: Real Red marker
Card stock: Whisper White, scrap of Garden Green
Other: Simply Scored, Festival of Prints designer paper stack, stamp-a-majig, Merry Minis punch pack
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

So yesterday was 12/12/12 - a fact that may have passed me by if I hadn't been alerted to the fact by my youngest son. "It's a once in a lifetime event," he told me in hushed tones before adding cheerfully: "Well unless we live for another 109 years it is!"

Thank you for visiting me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a card and gift box set - so I'll hope to see you then.

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Petal Card punch box tutorial

Did you see the little box I posted here yesterday? It's so quick and easy to make and is perfect gift wrapping, not only for the glimmer mist I showed you, but also for items such as make up, perfume, crafting or stationery items, a torch, sweets, a rolled up promises voucher... well the list is endless! For those that hate the bangs of Christmas crackers, the boxes make great alternative, with plenty of room for a paper hat, a couple of jokes and a small gift.

I promised to show you how to make the box so here's my tutorial:


Choose a sheet of designer paper from the Festival of Prints stack - there's no need to cut it as it's exactly the right size! I love the papers in this pack - I've shown a selection of them in the photo above but there are 12 double-sided designs and you get four of each for only £6.25!


Score the paper at 2.5cm, 5cm, 7.5cm and 10cm (1", 2", 3" and 4"). Yes, I'm still using my old trimmer but my new, improved one is on its way - yippee!


Make crisp folds using a bone folder - can you see how much use mine has had?! It still works brilliantly though.



Fix the folded paper into a square tube shape using Sticky Strip - your box will never come apart if you use this!


Cut two end pieces for your box using the Petal Card double punch. This fabulous punch cuts AND scores for you! I normally recommend using Stampin' Up punches upside down so you can see where you're punching, but this one works best if you press down hard on a solid surface.


Fold the scores with a bone folder and attach one of the pieces to the bottom of the box with more Sticky Strip. For the top of the box, you need to attach one side only for a hinge effect (see photo above and below).


This is so that the recipient doesn't have to tear into the box to get to the gift! I add glue dots to the other three sides so that the box closes neatly.


Stamp a label for your box - I've used a gorgeous little tag from the fabulous little Mixed Medley hostess set which I've been finding so useful! Click here to see what else I've been making with this set.


Cut the tag out with a 3/4" punch. This is what I mean by using punches upside down - you can see exactly where you're punching if you do this.


Punch a 1" circle from Cherry Cobbler card stock and mount your stamped label onto it with a dimensional to make a tag. Pierce a hole in the tag so you'll be able to tie it onto the box.


Tie white bakers twine round the length of the box, cross it over at the base of the box and bring it back up to the top. Tie in a single knot and thread with through the tag. Finish with a bow.


Run round the house squawking with excitement, trying out different things to put in the box and squealing each time you find something new... well this last step is optional but it's quite fun and your family will all edge anxiously away from you, leaving you free to wrap up their presents without them bursting in to see what you're up to!

Here's what you'll need to make today's box
Stamps: Mixed Medley
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Card stock: Cherry Cobbler
Punches: Petal Card double punch, 1" and 3/4" circle punches
Other: Festival of Prints designer paper stack  (p.20 of the autumn/winter mini catalogue, £6.25), white bakers twine, piercing tool and mat
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

Of course this box is suitable for all the year round, not just for Christmas and I'll have one in a different style to show you on Friday. Before then though, Three Minute Thursday is coming up tomorrow and I'll have a quick punched card to show you, so do join me for that.
Hugs,