The Call of the keyboard.....

As I write this from the top secret location of my craft desk, I hastily glance over my shoulder and check that my cover has not been blown...... yep! At this time of night the kids are in bed, and asleep, and use of the netbook should go undetected by them, I am back to blogging just trying to ensure stealth like note book usage..... my brother, the man I turn to with all technological dilemmas would probably tell me that even if the children don't know what I am doing the 'Big Brothers' of the schools technology people, will do..... Hmmmm should I delete this post and wipe my prints from the keyboard???

No the call of the keyboard has struck me and I will endeavour to keep you updated with my crafty happenings, until normal service can resume!! ;-)

This last weekend was not only birthday time, but my Mum and Dad celebrated their 35 year wedding anniversary on the Saturday, as we were going for party tea on the Sunday I took a card I created for them, I gave a sneaky peek via Facebook, as I created it then realised I had no envelopes to fit an A5 card, luckily i had some tissue in which to wrap it.

 The style is nothing new from me, a sort of shabby chic college going on!

 Complete with Crumbcake Seam Binding & Crochet Trim bows....

 A hint of a swirl with 'colour on colour' stamping' for the base card, and the use of the Oval frame from the 'Textured Impressions Designer Frames' Embossing Folder, to create a centre piece for the stamping of 'Mum' '&' 'Dad' from the 'For my Family' stamp set, I had to use my 'Stamp-A-Ma-Jig' for this and I managed it first time, so I think this set may be making an appearance on cards more often, I had got it with Scrapbooking in mind,

 A banner, as a simple way to add a greeting with a different font,

 Some pops of colour, with the lovely flower heads from 'Everything Eleanor' stamped on 'Very Vanilia' in 'Richrazzleberry' Ink with the colour dragged in with a water brush, cut out and then popped to add dimension around the frame. Even the label/ journalling circle from 'Everything Eleanor' was stamped on the base card too!!

 Looking at this side view I took, it's probably a good thing I didn't have an envelope, as I think it would have been to chunky to fit!!

 I followed the style of the front of the card and decorated a 'Very Vanillia' piece of cardstock, to give me a panel on which to write the greeting, to my mum and dad.

 A couple more of the flowers stamped & cut out and I didn't stick them down completely so that the edges had a hint of freedom!!

 And a little bit more stamping and a bit of ink sponging too and my special anniversary card was finished!

I am really pleased with how it came together, and how i managed to make stamps that don't necessarily scream card making such as the journalling label and the family titles work on a card.

Right as my cover has not be blown by a child awaking, I had better not push my luck and log off for now. Don't forget that this is the last month of the Fantastic 'SALE-A-BRATION' were you can get an exclusive free set of stamps or paper for every £45 you spend in either the main IBC, the Spring mini or a bit of both!

If you would like further information please give me a call

Tel: 077891605129,

I look forward to hearing from you xx

Birthday Bonanza Blog Candy!!!

Today is Matthews 9Th birthday, and a couple of weeks ago he got his present........some pigs......yep! real, live, Stinky Pigs!!

So here is his Pig themed birthday card, it's made with all 'Stampin' Up!' products and the pig was made by using a bonanza of our fantastic punches!It's nice to show punches used to create, something different, and quite often it is called 'Punch Art'.

I have even added a touch of SU Bling to it.....and he hasn't noticed!!Now as birthday are something to celebrate, I am running a blog candy competition, all you have to do is, send me an email sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk Stating which punches I have used to create just the Pig with, to give you a glue they can be found in the SU current 'Ideas Book & Catalogue'.Entries close at 12 noon, UK time, Saturday 29Th of October, and the correct answers will, go in to a Hat and Matt will draw the winner.Please do leave comments but remember that if you tell everyone your answer there, you may be giving the game away!!I look forward to your entries pinging, up in my email box, and I will do a post/ tutorial on how to create the pig and also the easel card, using the 'Bigz Scallop Square Die', on Sunday.

Sally-Jo xXx

CAS......Christmas!!!

OK I have mentioned the dreaded 'C' word again.....but teamed it with CAS, this stands for 'Clean and simple'. This is- sort of a less is more approach to your card lay outs, and can be a good approach to bulk card making!

For these cards I came up with one layout/ design idea and I just changed the ink colour, for variation! It's a great way to make each card slightly different!

Using the snowflake from the 'Winter Post' SU stamp set, I inked it up in my chosen colour and stamped it on the top 2/3's of the card blank, to get a shade variation I used the 2nd and 3rd impression from the stamp too.......this means that I didn't add anymore ink, I just stamped it again for the 2nd time and then the 3rd, again not adding ink, so the shade goes lighter.......it's amazing what you can do with ink!!

The colours I have used for these samples are from the 'Stampin' Up!- Brights' collection and are 'Tempting Turquoise' and 'Melon Mambo', but don't be held back by this....your cards can be made in a colour of ink of your choice!

The sentiment is from the SU stamp set 'Heard from the Heart', this set of stamps has lots of different sentiments and I used the Christmas one, they all have hand written look to them, and the sweeping line in and away just calls out for some of our SU bling, on both sides-the camera never really picks up how super sparkly this is! To add a bit more of a sparkle I added a tiny 'bling' to the centre of three of the snowflakes too!

To follow on from the front design, I have added stamping directly to the inside of the card......it saves the hassle of cutting an insert, decorating that and sticking it in too, but the main reason is that the 'Whisper white' card stock is perfect for stamping on so why waste the inside area?!!

I have just realised that I haven't decorated any envelopes to match, but this would be easy to do along the same lines......hmmmmm I think I will just nip and do that now! Please leave suggestions of your 'CAS' Christmas card ideas via the comments, it would be great to know what people are making xxx

Totally Cased!!!

This morning while on a few errands around Longridge, I got a lovely call from my SU mum Julie, even though she was busy getting ready for her SU weekend in Prague, she took the time to answer a few queries I had sent via email at 3am....well I couldn't sleep, and thought it best to use the time effectively, it was great to speak to her and have her support and guidance, in what I do as an Independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so thanks Julie and have loads of fun!So in honour of Julie, I have cased one of her recent blog cards for the colour and stamp combo......The truly Divine 'Vintage Vogue' Stamp set, teamed with 'Crumb Cake' & 'Concord Crush' Ink and Very vanilla card stock.....and for good measure I have also made it an easel card!The recipient of this card is Johnny's Mum, as it is her birthday today, I hope she likes it. we have given her some Rose scented perfume too, inspired by a friends recent bathing in Jo Malone!!This stamp set is the main focus of my 'Colour Splash Class' and yet used with this colour combo, it looks different yet again, and the flowers are so easy to cut out!The lovely sentiment is from 'heard form the heart' and you can find a sentiment in there to fit any occasion, 'Stampin' Up! are great at providing versatile, but gorgeous stamps sets!

We still have some more grass to mow, but I am hoping for a few treats tomorrow, the Postman has been busy bringing cards, with many from my new 'Stampin' Up!' friends, it so welcoming to be part of such a friendly group, I have made Johnny hide them all, in case I open them before tomorrow!

Manhatthan Roses

Today is the last day of the school holidays for my 'not as little, as they were folk', and it one of those day's were there is loads to do, and not enough hours in the day!

But I have pinched myself 15 minutes, to make this 'oh...so pretty' card......YES you read it correctly, 15 minutes! With the fantastic 'Manhatthan Roses' SU exclusive embossing folder, a few turns of the 'Big Shot' handle and a few other bits and bobs it really, is a quick make.

This card could very easily be tweaked to make the most gorgeous of wedding invites, and with the fantastic array of Stampin' Up! card stock colours, no colour scheme would go unmatched.....but don't you just love 'Regal Rose' pink & the luscious 'Chocolate Chip' brown?? Tell me your favourite SU colour combo via the comment section xx

The count down has started to my launch party on Saturday night, I have had responses and support from some great friends, email me to RSVP and secure your 'Make & Take' pack:

sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk.