Stamp-A-Stack Christmas Tree

Good morning. Todays card uses a traditional red and green colour scheme. To be more precise it's Real Red and Gumball Green:

 

We used the Pennant Parade stamp set, and the matching Pennant builder punch to make the Christmas tree, after embossing the card with one of the Designer Frames embossing folders. 

 

 

Have you spotted the new Stitched Satin Ribbon in Gumball Green? This ribbon is available in all of the new 2012-2013 In-Colours. It has a lovely sheen which you can just about see in this photo. We used Curly Cute for the sentiment:

 

I hope you liked this card. Check back soon for the last card we made. x

Last 2 days

Morning everyone, as promised I have 2 cards to show you today, made with the other flowers from the Reason to Smile stamp set. Here is the first one:

I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock for this one. I stamped the image in Versamark ink and heat embossed it using Cherry Cobbler embossing powder. Hopefully this gives you a better view and a close up of that gorgeous Scalloped Dots ribbon - also in Cherry Cobbler.

You can get the Reason to Smile stamp set for free if you place an order of £60 or more before the end of August or you can buy it BUT only till August 31st.

Here's another card. This time I used Basic Black card stock and again stamped using versamark ink, but this time I used white embossing powder:

And the inevitable close up:

Here are both of them. I must admit I quite like simple colour schemes like this. The sentiments were from Sincere Salutations and Curly Cute.

If you want this set or anything from the Summer mini, please contact me before the 31st August so I can place your order. I'll be back soon with news of our Autumn/Winter catalogue which launces on September 1st and has lots and lots of fantastic seasonal porducts. Check back on the 1st so you can have a look. x

Gift boxes

Hi everyone, do you know there are only 3 more days left when you can order products from the summer mini catalogue and get the Reason to Smile for FREE when you spend £60?

Some of the products may appear in the new main catalogue which will launch on October 1st but there is no guarantee.

Today I'm showing you some gift boxes and matching cards which I have made using the Mixed Bunch stamp set and the Blossom punch which are both in the summer catalogue and may be discontinued. I found a tutorial for these gift boxes on Helen Read's blog. You can find it here.

I am starting a new job on Monday and have made a gift box for everyone in my current team, to be filled with chocolates. I also made a matching card for each one. The sentiment was stamped using Curly Cute. Here are some of them:

Melon Mambo cardstock and Flirtatious Speciality DSP:

 

 

 

Pool Party Cardstock and Sweet Shop DSP:

   

 

My personal favourite: Soft Suede cardstock and Mocha Morning DSP:

 

 

Here is a close up of the flower. I punched 4 flowers using the Blossom punch, using 4 different patterns from the designer papers. I then misted each flower with water, crumpled them and then stacked them. Each one has a stamped centre from the Mixed Bunch stamp set and has been fastened with a matching brad.

And here is one in Marina Mist cardstock and Nursery Nest DSP:

 

 

Here are all 4 of them with their matching cards:

 

And here are another 4 which I made with discontinued designer paper:

Remember all the speciality papers will be discontinued when the new catalogue comes out in October and the ones that are in the Summer mini will be discontinued in 3 days time. If you've loved these papers but haven't ordered any yet, then now is the time. Just contact me.   I'll be back tomorrow with the last of the cards made with the Reason to Smile stamp set. Get it while you can. x


 


 

Simply Mixed Bunch

Good morning everyone. Today I'm sharing the first of the cards we made at card class this week. This card was quick and easy but very effective:



Once again, the colours are not showing up very well but this card was made using Concord Crush and Whisper White card stock, Concord Crush ink and the Mixed Bunch stamp set. The stamp set has a matching punch so there's no need to do any fiddly cutting out. The greeting has been stamped using the Curly Cute stamp set. The stamp set comes with several different centres which I used to create the background and the middle of the flower.

Here's a close up. I think the rest is fairly self explanatory:

 

If you'd like to buy this stampset and/or the punch, please contact me. I'll be posting another one of the cards made with the same stamp set soon. x

Large father's day/birthday card

 Hi everyone, this is the first of the masculine cards we made in the last card class. This was a large card, A5 size, which we don't do very often:



For some reason that I can't work out, there seems to be another photo superimposed onto the photo above. We used the Open Sea stamp set to create a background sheet (often called a 'one sheet wonder') I used Crumbcake, Basic Grey, Soft Suede, and Marina Mist ink and used all of the stamps included in the set.

I used Not Quite Navy and Riding Hoodl Red cardstock to give it a slight nautical (and patriotic) feel. The boat was stamped in Basic Grey which gives it a softer look than black. We used the wide Marina Mist Grossgrain ribbon and added a strip of Not Quite Navy card punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch. Here are a couple of close ups:

'To my dad' was stamped using the For My Family stampset which is a very usual set for adding family titles to cards.

And here's exactely the same card, just with a different greeting. This 'Happy Birthday' is from the Curly Cute stamp set.

I have to admit that this card was almost a straight copy of one that Sally-Jo showed at the Stampin' Up! regional training event in Leeds. She's a truly talented, artistic lady and you can see some of her work on her blog here.

I hope you've enjoyed this card. I'll be back with another one soon.

You are Loved -Last 2 cards

Here they are, the last 2 cards we made in card class. This next one could be used as a Valentine's card  or would work just as well as an Aniversary card:

I've used Cherry Cobbler for the card base and stamped my heart image on Very Vanilla, using Versamark ink. I then heat embossed it using the new Cherry Cobbler embossing powder. The label was stamped with Pretty in Pink ink and the centre of the label was stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink. They were then punched out using the Decorative Label and Large Oval punch. A bit of ribbon and a few Rhinestones finished it off:

The last card was done more with weddings and engagements in mind. It is very similar to one of the other cards we made, with a few variations. Again I used Crumb Cake for the contrast although it looks green in the photo. 

The only difference with this card is that I used Crumb Cake seam binding and I used the Congratulations sentiment from the Curly Cute stamp set. Otherwise, the instructions are the same as for my last post.

I hope you like these cards and that I have shown you the potential of the You are Loved stamp set. I received my order today, so check back soon for some Sale-A-Bration samples. Also remember that the next card class is on February 8th and if you would like some FREE Sale-A-Bration goodies, all you need to do is place a £45 order. x

Thinking of You

Good morning everyone. Today I'm sharing a card which I made for a friend who lost someone close to her family. I didn't want to do a traditional Sympathy card, so did this instead. I must apologise for the poor quality of my photos lately. I constantly end up taking these photos either early in the morning or in the evening and it's always dark outside!

The colours on this card are actually Concorde Crush and Basic Gray. You can see it better in the last couple of photos. The Basic Gray panel is from a discontinued designer paper but plain Basic Gray would work just as well.

I used my favourite Creative Elements stamp set for the background swirl, stamped in Concorde Crush ink and I used the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die and Big Shot, to cut the butterflies. I added a few pearls - you can see them better in the close up below:

As before, I stamped the inside with the butterfly from the Creative Elements stamp set and, in this photo you can finally see that the card is actually the deep purple of Concorde Crush. I used my trusty Curly Cute stamp set to stamp the sentiments and the Scallop Trim border punch to create the edging.

I was really pleased with how this card turned out. Just such a shame that it was for a sad occassion. See you soon.

Doilies class round-up

I know I've shown you some of these cards before but here, for the final time, is what we actually made in card class. Everyone worked really hard and managed to complete three A5 cards and three 3"x3" cards. Sometimes a little cute card is all you need.  These are the A5 cards:

We used Pool Party and Wisteria Wonder cardstock and inks, plus Whisper White. We used the Delicate Doilies stamp set and the Curly Cute stamp set for the greetings. (except for the 'celebrate' which is from a discontinued set). We also used the Perfect Pennants die and the Big Shot to make the lovely lacey circles in the middle of these cards. Some of the new, gorgeous, ruffled ribbon in Pool Party completed the look. The other punches we used were the Doily Triple Layer punch (this is like having 3 punches in 1), the 1 3/4" circle punch and the Modern label punch. Here are the small cards which you have seen before:

The next card class is on the 7th december, 7.00-9.30pm at my house. We will be making christmas cards and the cutest little Santa gift box. Sneak peaks will follow soon. If you would like to join us, please email or phone me. Have a good day. x

Happy Birthday, Son

My eldest son was 22 last week. I made him this card based on a sketch from Mojo Monday.

Actually, looking at it now, I should have done something with the large open orange space on the right, and to be fair, it did have some more detail on the sketch, but I forgot... Ah well....

I used More Mustard, Certain Celery and Marina Mist cardstock and Designer papers; Marina Mist ink and Marina Mist satin ribbon. The stamp sets I used are Curly Cute and 'son' was stamped using the Just Perfect Alphabet and the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Here's a close up;

This card is by no means perfect but I hope it gives you some inspiration. My son liked it, no matter what. x