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Thursday 31 October 2013

Three minute Joyful Christmas - and a winner!

Are you wondering who walked away with the freebies from my online shop promotion last week? Well, it was lovely Jackie Collins from Bedfordshire who was thrilled when I phoned to let her know she'd won £25 worth of free items of her choice. "I don't believe it - I never win anything!" she said. Well, she does now!  Congratulations Jackie, enjoy your goodies!

Now, it might be halloween today but I'm thinking about Christmas cards - and quick ones too since it's Three Minute Thursday. Yesterday I showed you how the stylised holly from Joyful Christmas could turn autumnal but today it's back in festive form! Come and see:


I used markers on the rubber before stamping to get the double coloured sentiment and then used my stamp-a-majig to add the holly leaves. Candy dots make perfect berries - in fact, you may have gathered by now that I believe candy dots are perfect in every way!


The front panel was cut the same height as the card base but 1.5cm narrower and was mounted using dimensionals for extra interest.

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Joyful Christmas
Ink: Garden Green classic ink, Early Espresso, Real Red markers
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Candy dots, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

It's half term here and my children are keeping me entertained! Yesterday, my daughter was doing some baking while my youngest son did the washing up after lunch (and for those who think what an angel he is, please bear in mind that he was urged to do so several times and only caved in when I threatened to confiscate his xbox!) I asked my son to put clingfilm over some left-overs and pop them back in the fridge. "The trouble with clingfilm," said my son, "is that it's a bit clingy!"

See you tomorrow,

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Joyful Christmas working harder

Stampin' Up's Joyful Christmas is a beautiful stamp set with its wonderful poinsettia image, stylised holly and two sentiments but, like most of my Christmas sets, it's not just for Christmas! Come and see how I used it to make a card fit for the blustery autumn season:


See how that stylised holly can make a great autumn leaf? I used the gorgeous Off The Grid for the background and stamped one of the punchy sentiments from Four You over the top and added the leaf and some of my favourite embellishments. Here's a close-up:


The leaf was made by swiping some autumn colours of ink over a piece of Naturals Ivory card stock, stamping the leaf image over the top and cutting it out. Off the Grid has a nice little indent which was crying out for decoration: I threaded bakers twine through a punched hole, added two candy dots and a piece of washi tape. TIP: To get the nicely rounded washi tape, I stuck a piece lightly onto a scrap piece of card stock, punched it with the word window punch and peeled it off gently - and there it was: all rounded and ready to add to a project!

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Off the Grid, Joyful Christmas, Four You
Ink: Old Olive, Summer Starfruit, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive
Other: Season of Style washi tape/designer paper, Lucky Limeade bakers twine (retired), candy dots, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

We're looking forward to a joyful Christmas but in the meantime we are certainly having a joyful week! My lovely daughter has received a job offer from the local Waitrose this week, so she'll be able to start saving, and she's also received a conditional offer from Manchester university which was her first choice! I am thrilled to bits for her and love seeing her confidence grow - definitely a Mumland moment!

See you tomorrow when I'll be making a three minute card with Joyful Christmas.

Hugs,

Tuesday 29 October 2013

The latest offer from Stampin' Up

If you're looking for my daily inspiration, just scroll down to the previous post where I'm showing the card I made for my husband to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. I'm just popping in with another post today because there are MORE lovely offers from Stampin' Up!

Tag it box bundles 

If you've been thinking about Christmas packaging you'll be keen on these fabulous new bundles: Gift boxes, ribbon and everything you need to make gorgeous tags - and all at 20% off!



Choose from the Holiday Tag It Decorative Box Bundle, which contains 6 small window gift boxes (pictured on the left); or the Holiday Tag It Extra Large Box Bundle, which contains 3 extra large gift boxes (pictured on the right). Each kit also contains a reel of the luscious Cherry Cobbler stitched edge grosgrain ribbon and this beautiful Stamp A Tag kit:


And wouldn't this make a lovely gift too?

You can buy all of these items separately or you can save 20% by ordering them as a bundle until 30th November 2013.

135811 Holiday Tag It Decorative Box Bundle £17.95 - order it here
135812 Holiday Tag It Extra Large Box Bundle £16.95 - order it here

My Digital Studio - 30% off sale

If you're a My Digital Studio fan, there's an amazing 30% off sale going on in my online shop! And while you're there don't forget to have a look at the clearance rack where there are always plenty of bargains!

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

Happy shopping!

Happy wedding anniversary!

We've been married for 19th years today! How did that happen?! Hearts and flowers are not really my husband's thing (!) so I made a card to make him smile instead - come and see:


Don't you love this penny farthing image from Timeless Talk? It's one of three fabulous vintage-style images and there are some great sentiments and a useful speech bubble stamp too.


I chose to make my sentiment in MDS though. Aren't I rude?!

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Timeless Talk
Ink: Early Espresso
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: MDS, candy dots, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

As I mentioned yesterday, my husband is a keen cyclist - some would say over-enthusastic! It does sometimes gets him into trouble... like the time he cycled across a field and was chased by a herd of stampeding bullocks! Are you beginning to see why I feel that 19 years is quite an achievement!

See you tomorrow,

Monday 28 October 2013

Saying thank you - That's the Ticket

Oh dear - we're having Some Weather at the moment and it's gloomy and dark and I'm keeping everything crossed that the roof tiles can hang on through the wind and rain. What's required is something bright and cheerful to keep our spirits up and what could be brighter and more cheerful than the Quatrefancy designer paper I've used for today's project? Come and see:


This is a pure injection of vibrant colour - guaranteed to put a bit of pep into anyone's step! I cut some strips from a few of the papers and arranged them onto a zingy Strawberry Slush card base.


You can see that I tied a tag to one of the strips with bakers twine before attaching it. The tag is quite a favourite of mine - it was stamped with one of the solid images from the That's the Ticket stamp set and cut out with the coordinating punch; I added the sentiment from Express Yourself using my stamp-a-majig to make sure I got it in the right place.


Here's a great idea for left over designer paper - wrap chocolate bars in them for a beautifully coordinated gift. I used Sticky Strip to make sure they didn't come apart, tied them in a stack with a length of Pool Party seam binding and added another of those gorgeous little tags.

The That's the Ticket stamp set is one of the 25 stamp sets that have been discounted by 25% as part of Stampin' Up's 25th anniversary celebrations, so if you love it as much as I do, now is the time to add it to your collection! But that's not all: if you shop online with me using my special code FWRY 6ZXV, you could win at least £25 worth of freebies! The promotion ends TODAY at 10.30pm and the winner will be notified tomorrow, Tuesday 29th October.

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: That's the Ticket, Express Yourself
Ink: Pool Party, So Saffron, Strawberry Slush, Early Espresso
Card stock: Strawberry Slush, Whisper White
Other: Quatrefancy speciality designer paper, Ticket builder punch, Pool Party seam binding, bakers twine, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

We all like to keep fit in our house - my husband likes to run, cycle and play tennis; my eldest son is into basketball and tennis; my youngest son likes badminton and cycling and my daughter and I love to dance. You'll be glad to know that Tuppence the cat hasn't been left behind in the fitness craze...


... and feline yoga classes could be starting up in your area too!

See you tomorrow,

Sunday 27 October 2013

A twiney bit of Festive Flurry!

I meant to get this card posted yesterday but by the time I got round to finishing the chores and settling in at the Crafting Square Metre, it was already dark! Oh well, dark evenings are something we're going to have to get used to for a while now that the clocks have gone back and dark evenings make me think of Christmas: cinnamon smells coming from the kitchen, roaring fires, cosy throws and cushions - and definitely a kraft and red colour scheme. Twine is the natural partner to that and since Less is More's challenge this week is to use twine, and a christmas card is required for Sandra's Rudolph Day, I was off! Come and see:


I used Crumb Cake card stock (that's the tempting name Stampin' Up have come up with for kraft!) for my card base and panel. The edges of the panel were swiped with a Whisper White craft ink pad and then I stamped the centre with a folksy snowflake from Festive Flurry in Real Red.


Now for the twine: using my piercing tool, I poked some holes in the snowflake and threaded some linen thread through them. It makes for a rustic, textured effect and some twinkling gems provide a nice contrast.


The card is finished with  and a sentiment from Remembering Christmas which I heat embossed with white embossing powder.

There are framelits which coordinate with the snowflakes in Festive Flurry but if you're not fussed about cutting them out why not have a look at the Snowflake SoirĂ©e set? It's one of 25 beautiful stamp sets that have been discounted by 25% as part of Stampin' Up's anniversary celebrations, and at only £16.46 for the cling mount set it's a bit of a bargain! But that's not all - if you use my special code FWRY 6ZXV in my online shop, you could be in with a chance of winning at least £25 of freebies when the promotion ends tomorrow!

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Festive Flurry, Remembering Christmas (sentiment)
Ink: Real Red
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla
Other: Linen thread, piercing tool and mat, Basic Rhinestones, stamp-a-majig, versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!

While I've been typing this I've been listening to my youngest son playing on his xbox. You never know what you might be getting with him - last week it was "Oh my goodness - there's a sheep in the enchanting room!", this week it's "No! Don't give Joseph a flame thrower!" Do I worry about the impact of gaming on his personality? Er no!

I'll be back tomorrow - hope to see you then.

Hugs,

Friday 25 October 2013

Oh Hello - it's a chevron tree this Christmas!

I actually made one of these cards at the beginning of the week, inspired by the Tree theme at Less is More, but didn't get round to blogging it with all the excitement over Stampin' Up discounting all those stamp sets (see above!) Since then, I've been looking at my discounted sets and it occurred to me that I could make my stylised tree with the Oh Hello set too. I'm probably making no sense at all (no change there then!) but come and have a look anyway:


This is the first one I made - a curve-cornered panel topped with a simple tree shape made with the Chevron punch and decorated with a single gem. I added the sentiment from Wishing You, which was coloured with markers to get the two colours. Here's a close up of that fun little tree:


The second card is designed along the same lines but using the patchwork-style chevron stamp from Oh Hello. I stamped it in Gumball Green and used Raspberry Ripple card stock (it's a lovely dark pinky red not the bright red it appears in the photo!)


And here's a close up of the tree:


I used a marker to add a trunk for my tree and then stamped the edging stamp over the tree using Garden Green and getting the positioning right with the aid of my stamp-a-majig. In keeping with the homespun style of the stamp, I added a heart to top my tree and gave it a little pot to sit in by snipping the top and bottom off a larger punched heart.

Here's what you'll need to make both cards
Stamps: Wishing You, Oh Hello
Ink: Gumball Green, Garden Green classic inks plus markers
Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White
Other: Chevron, small heart and 2 step owl punches, Basic Rhinestones, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!
If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get
freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,
why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?

My daughter was lucky enough to go along to along to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's production of Richard II yesterday evening. I'm afraid I lost all my dignity when she told me. "Sqeeee!" I shrieked, "David Tennant's in that!" and then tried to recover by adding: "and of course it's a marvellously educational opportunity." After that I gave up any semblance of maturity and as my daughter left the house called after her: "Give my love to Davy T!"

The gorgeous er I mean the esteemed actor
David Tennant plays Richard II
Have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you very soon,

Thursday 24 October 2013

A three minute Oh Hello for Christmas

The excitement continues after Stampin' Up discounted 25 of its stamp sets by 25% as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations. I've been using some of my favourite sets from the list this week and today, while using Oh Hello for my Three Minute Thursday card, I discovered a new technique by accident! Come and see:


If you stamp a solid stamp over the chevron oval from Oh Hello, the chevron shows through - how amazing is that?! The new-style ink pads are perfect for this with their brilliant coverage.


You may be thinking that the sentiment and fussy-cut chevron don't look very quick but they were! The patchwork chevron is one stamp so it was a case of stamping it in one go, and then it was such a simple shape to cut out with six snips of my sharp paper snips. My top tip with this style of sentiment is to cut your main panel slightly longer than you need it; you can then add your sentiment exactly where you want it using your stamp-a-majig, before trimming it off in a strip using your trimmer and attaching it to your card wherever you like.

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Oh Hello, Remembering Christmas
Ink: Soft Sky, Midnight Muse, Real Red
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Candy dots, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!
If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get
freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,
why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?

Ironically I never remember what the Remembering Christmas stamp set is called and end up calling it Oh Deer!  Which reminds me of my youngest son - one of his earliest phrases (if you can call it a phrase) was "Oh deed" by which he meant "Oh dear" - which might give you some insight into life in our house at the time!

See you tomorrow,

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Gently falling by 25%!

What could be better than a new stamp set? A new stamp set at a discount of course! Stampin' Up has discounted 25 stamp sets by 25% as part of its 25th anniversary - just look:

A Dozen Thoughts • Zoo Babies • Lots of Thanks • Happy Day • Gifts of Kindness • Hearts Aflutter • Hello Lovely • Crazy Mixed-up Love • Bright Blossoms • Itty Bitty Banners • Yippee-Skippee • Gorgeous Grunge • Ornament Keepsakes • Apothecary Art • Cuddles and Kisses • Oh Hello • Label Love • Christmas Star (single) • A Gift for You (single) • Betsy's Blossoms • Morning Post (alphabet set)  • Gently Falling • Snowflake SoirĂ©e • Jewish Celebrations • That's the Ticket

What a list! Just click the picture above to see before and after prices. Offer ends on 28th October.

And to get the party going with even more of a swing, if you key in hostess code FWRY 6ZXV when ordering online, you could also win at least £25 worth of free goodies of your choice!

Here's another project I made using the fabulous Gently Falling set which is on the 25% discount list:


If you were wondering what I did with the rest of the designer paper I'd stamped for yesterday's card look no further! I used it on this card along with the lovely 'smile' sentiment from Happy Day - and yes, THAT's on the 25% discount list too! There was plenty of the stamped card stock left to make another couple of cards as well as this matching box:


The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed the little tag... It's stamped with That's the Ticket (yet another gorgeous stamp set on the 25% discount list!) and cut out with the coordinating punch. I added a sentiment and a tiny punched flower decorated with a candy dot - these are BRILLIANT! (I may have mentioned this previously once or twice or er... 800 times!)

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Gently Falling, Happy Day, That's the Ticket, Express Yourself
Ink: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Cajun craze, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla
Other: Ticket punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, corner rounder, linen thread, thin organza ribbon (retired), candy dots, Simply Scored, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!
If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get
freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,
why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?


Yesterday evening my daughter looked up from her laptop. "Last night I dreamt I was being strangled," she said cheerfully. "Shall I look up what that means?" She tapped away for a few minutes, googling the meaning of dreams, and then I heard her giggle. "These are the replies:" she said. "'You might be a bit worried' and 'I hope you don't get strangled'!"We laughed for a bit and then I suggested she might tidy her room to avoid the possibility of being strangled by her mother!

See you tomorrow,

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Get your Stampin' Up stamps for less!

Oh my goodness, the great news just keeps on coming! Earlier on today I was letting you know that the new flip card thinlits dies are now available and now there's even more excitement! Stampin' Up has been celebrating its 25th anniversary all year and, as part of the festivities, has whipped 25% off 25 of the most gorgeous stamp sets in the catalogue!

A Dozen Thoughts • Zoo Babies • Lots of Thanks • Happy Day • Gifts of Kindness • Hearts Aflutter • Hello Lovely • Crazy Mixed-up Love • Bright Blossoms • Itty Bitty Banners • Yippee-Skippee • Gorgeous Grunge • Ornament Keepsakes • Apothecary Art • Cuddles and Kisses • Oh Hello • Label Love • Christmas Star (single) • A Gift for You (single) • Betsy's Blossoms • Morning Post (alphabet set)  • Gently Falling • Snowflake SoirĂ©e • Jewish Celebrations • That's the Ticket

And to get the party going with even more of a swing, if you key in hostess code FWRY 6ZXV when ordering online, you could also win at least £25 worth of free goodies of your choice!
Offer ends 28th October

Some of my all-time favourites are in that list - including the wonderful Gently Falling set which I used to make this collage-style project:


This card is made in all the colours of the autumn hedgerow - but don't feel that leaves are just for this time of year. The beech leaf and the long tall leaf are perfect used as Christmas trees (like I did on this card) and any of the leaves can be teamed with your florals to give them a new look all year round (as I've done here.)


Gently Falling is a two-step stamping set which means you can stamp the outline and fill in colour with the corresponding stamp. This gives so much detail as you can see above. I used the 'kissing' technique on the leaf using a stamp from Gorgeous Grunge - yet another of my favourites on the 25% off list! PLEASE don't miss out on that one either!


I made my own designer paper with some of the stamps from the set and used a little as a background, attaching it with glue and using strips of washi tape as a decorative detail.


This card was made to celebrate the birthday of a lovely friend of mine so I hand-stamped some paper to wrap her present in too.

Here's what you'll need to make this project
Stamps: Gently Falling, Gorgeous Grunge, Petite Pairs
Ink: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Season of Style washi tape/designer paper, Early Espresso stitched grosgrain ribbon, candy dots, corner rounder, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!
If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get
freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,
why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?

Talking of Gently Falling, I've just been made to jump out of my skin by a thudding sound behind me. It was the cat falling off he sofa! She'd been napping on the very edge of the sofa due to her shockingly trained owner who had left her shopping bags untidily there ready to go out but had got distracted by Stampin' Up excitement! Needless to say the cat pretended that she had meant to jump off the sofa and lounged off in search of choice morsels in the kitchen (which she won't find because I haven't done the shopping...) Better dash or we won't be on meowing terms!

See you tomorrow,

New from Stampin' Up - Flip card thinlits dies!

From the amount of emails I've received asking about the new Stampin' Up thinlits dies, I can only imagine that there'll be a massive rush on today! Yes, these fabulous new dies are available to order from my online shop NOW!

And if you're wondering what all the fuss is about, these are wonderful thin metal dies that can be used to make interactive flip cards like this one made by a Stampin' Up designer:


This is how the card looks as it opens...
Isn't it amazing?! And all made quickly and efficiently by running it through your big shot and folding along the score lines! Yes, it is that simple! You can make whole batches of these in no time at all!

This is what the dies look like:

As you can see above, there are two different options: the labels version on the left and the circle version on the right. There are loads of extras with each too which are great fun to use on these flip cards or other cards and projects! Take a look at this short Stampin' Up video to see how it's done:



So what do you think? I'm bowled over by these amazing dies and I know you'll love using them - and priced at £29.95 for each set, they are brilliant value too!

Crafting Clare online shop, shopping with Vicky Hayes, Stampin Up clearance rack
You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.
Customers placing orders of £250+
will get a whopping £65 worth of freebies during October!
If you'd prefer to spread the cost of your crafty stash, but still get
freebies as well as handmade gifts and cards and complementary catalogues,
why not consider joining my Stampers 6 club?


See you a bit later on for another exciting announcement and a new project!

Hugs,