Simply Scored Birthday

Hi everyone, as I've mentioned we had 2 birthdays at the weekend. Not only was it my father-in-law's birthday, it was my son's 23rd birthday too. I made him this card, using my new Simply Scored tool:



Now I have to confess that I'm not totally sure about this card - I couldn't decide whether it was missing something or whether it was fine as a 'clean and simple' card. Anyway, I resisted the temptation to mess with it and left it as it was.

I used the Simply Scored tool to score 2 strips of Big Top Birthday designer paper every 1/2" . I glued the strip together and then flattened it into the rosette shape. The greeting is from the Up, Up & Away stamp set which is in the Summer mini catalogue. 





For the greeting inside the card I used the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set which is a hostess set. I coloured each line with marker pens which matched the paper colours and added 'son' from the For My Family stampset.

Well, that's it for the birthday cards from the weekend but my mother-in-law's 70th is fast approaching. I'll post her card on here in a couple of weeks. x

Happy Birthday Bike

Hi everyone, we had 2 birthdays in our family yesterday, so here's the card I made for my Father-in-Law. I used the  Pedal Presesnts stampset which is a hostess set and I love it. The bike comes with a variety of things you can put in the basket, so it can suit any occassion. For this card I've used the presents and balloons:



I've used another hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes, for the greeting and added 'dad' from the For My Family stampset. This stampset lets you personalise any greeting and I think it worked really well. I used the Decorative Label punch to cut out the greeting and then mounted it onto an Old Olive punched Decorative Label:

The card base was made out of Tempting Turquoise cardstock with a Whisper White panel mounted on a Daffodil Delight layer. I used a strip of Big Top Birthday designer paper, which has lots of bright colours in it. The edging was made with Old Olive cardstock, punched with the Scallop Edge border punch. Finally, I covered the balloons in Crystal Effects to make them lovely and shiny:

I hope you liked this card. If you fancy hosting a party to earn some of these hostess sets, please get in touch and don't forget you can earn an additional £30, during June and July. Check out my post from the 2nd June, if you missed the details. I'll be back soon with the second birthday card. x

Notebook gift

This is the last item from the Masculine card class. We covered this notebook to match the cards and to make a practical, small gift:

We cut a strip of Riding Hood Red cardstock slightly wider than the notepad and left it as the full length of A4. The top end was punched using the Scallop Border punch and a strip of the One Sheet Wonder was glued across the top. The anchor was stamped onto a piece of Very Vanilla and punched with the large tag punch, which was then glued to a piece of Not Quite Navy, punched with the extra large tag punch. Linen thread was wound around the top and the anchor tag was tied to it:



The pencils were tied together with linen thread and 2 small tags were punched with the Jewelry Tag punch. Here are all the projects together:



I hope you've enjoyed these. I'll be back with something different soon. x

Anchor card

Here's the second of the Masculine cards we made last week. It uses the same colour scheme of Not Quite Navy and Riding Hood Red. This was a smaller A6 card:



Again we have used a piece of the One Sheet Wonder to create the background panel. I stamped 3 anchors and the ship in basic grey and cut them all out. Sadly there are no matching punches for these but I quite enjoy a bit of hand cutting:

I used Linen thread to tie the anchors together. For my Husband was stamped using the For My Family stamp set again. I stamped 'husband' on to a Large Oval and popped that onto a label punched with the Modern Label punch:

 If you would like to buy any of these products, then please get in touch. Next time I'll show you the notebook we made as a small gift. 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.

Mixed bunch class

Hi everyone, I hope you're all enjoying your bank holiday weekend even though the weather isn't great. I want to give you plenty of notice of the next class. We'll be using the Mixed Bunch stamp set which is a lovely versatile set. It has a matching punch so cutting out is a dawdle. Here's a sneak preview:

Have you spotted top left, where the flower has become a butterfly?

The class will be held on Wednesday 13th June, 7.00-9.30pm, at my house in West Bridgford.

Cost is £12 as usual which includes everything needed to make the projects except for adhesives.

We'll be using different techniques in this class including the 'emboss resists' technique used for the butterfly and the 'rock and roll' technique which has been used on the gift box:

The gift box has been cut using the Pillow Box die and the Big Shot, using Calypso Coral cardstock. The flower has been inked with Daffodil Delight ink and the edges of the stamp were 'rolled' on the Calypso Coral ink pad giving the edges a separate, blended edge of more intense colour.

I've cut a strip of Daffodil Delight paper using the Lace Ribbon punch to go round the box and the leaves were punched using the Bird Builder punch.

I hope you'll decide to join us. Just give me a ring or email me. x

Fabulous new Stampin' Up! offers

Wow, Stampin' Up! have done it again. A new month, a new offer. Actually, there are 2 offers.

First we have a special offer for hostesses of Stampin' Up! parties. This offer is valid for 2 months until the end of July.
If you host a party that has more than £325 in sales, not only do you get the usual £50 of FREE products plus 1 item of your choice at 50%, you will now get an additional £30 of FREE products. So you get £80 FREE and 1 item at half price.
This is a great offer and very achievable when hosting a party, depending on the number of people you invite. If you would like to host a party, just get in touch.

The next offer is for the month of June and give you a FREE pack of designer paper worth £9.95, if you buy 3 packs.

Stampin' Up! designer papers come in packs of 12, 12" x 12" double sided sheets and they are all gorgeous. The paper is sturdy enough to make boxes and bags so you can make a matching giftbox to go with any card. This offer is a great way to increase you sales during a party, to get those extra free hostess pounds, so why not book a party during June. Here are the papers you can choose from:



To get a better look at these papers, please click on the catalogue pictures at the side of my blog. All of these papers are in the main catalogue, except for the last 2  - Twitterpated and Attic Boutique, which are in the Summer mini.

I'll be back soon with news of my next class, and to show you the projects we made in the Masculine cards class. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the Jubilee weekend. x